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According to Rohrberger and Woods 1971 there are five kinds of critical approach. There are the formalist approach, the biographical approach, the
sociocultural-historical approach, the mythopoeic approach and the last is the psychological approach pp. 1-15.
The branch of the critical approach which is mostly used to analyze the study here is the psychological approach. Here then is the explanation by
Rohrberger and Woods 1971, Psychological Approach is an approach that concerns ―the efforts to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns‖ p. 15.
It involves the theory of psychology to understand literary works. In addition, Guerin, Labor, Morgan, and Willingham 1979 also propose
that psychological approach provides us a work‘s ―thematic‖ and ―symbolic‖ mysteries. This approach helps us to understand and to clarify the lines stated in
the literary work p. 121. The concern of this approach is the analyses ―motives underlying
human behavior‖ p. 155. Nonetheless, this approach has its limitation to the aesthetic inadequacy and it neglects the appreciation of the
literary work p. 121. By using this approach, the writer tries to find out and to interpret the
meaning of each line stated the novel. Here also the analysis of the character is believed to be revealed and understood by the psychological approach.
b. Character
In order to explain who and how the character is emerging in a novel, we need the theory of character. Abrams 1971 shows the word character into two
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ways. The first way describes a character as ―a literary genre: a short, and usually witty, sketch in a prose of a distinctive type of person‖ p. 20. Second, he
explains the characters as ―the persons, in a dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say, the
dialogue, and what-they do - action‖ p. 21. From the explanation above we can
conclude that characters are the people with all their features presented in a story. In addition, in 1965, Stanton gives two ways to define a character, it has
the same idea as Abrams. The first is about ―how many characters are there,‖ characters are the ―individuals‖ becoming apparent in a story. The second is that a
character is a ―mixture of interest, desires, emotions, and moral principal that makes up each of the individuals‖ and that deals with ―how are the characters
defined‖ p. 17. Henkle 1977 classifies characters as major and minor characters. Major characters are the focus from the beginning until the end of the
story because they are the most ―important‖ and ―complex‖ persons there, also in order to convey the ―human qualities‖ and the understanding of ―human themes‖
to the readers, in consequence, they deserve the fullest attention. Minor characters on the other hands, present limited function and their roles are less important than
the major characters pp. 87-97.
c. Characterization
Readers have to understand the character traits and the motivation of the characters properly, as it is intended by the author. However, there is no author
can tell us everything at once directly. Authors may use may use any description
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to help the readers visualize and understand each character. Beaty 1984 states that we can
analyze a character through the way the character ―looks‖, ―speaks‖, ―thinks‖, ―does‖, and what ―other people say‖ about the character p. 23.
Murphy 1972 proposes almost the same several ways in which an author undertakes his characters understandable to the readers, there are personal
description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of others, reaction, and direct comment, thought and mannerism p. 162-173.
An author uses personal description to present the character through the physical appearance, such as the face, hair, skin color, and the clothes of the
character. It is intended to show the character‘s individual aspects and specific appearance for the vivid image toward the readers.
The author can also apply the method in which the character seen by another. Here, the way to describe a character can be seen through the opinion and
from the perception of another. What the character says, the way heshe speaks or talks to another
characters, or says about hisher ideas can also be delivered by the author as the clues to a person‘s character.
The author may also give a hint by giving some events through a person‘s past life to shape his or her character in the story. It can be seen through the direct
comment by the author, through the conversation of the characters, through the character‘s opinion, and also through the medium of another person.
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The readers can also guess what kind of person the character is from the other people‘s conversations and anything they say about the character. This is an
easy way to determine the character of a person in the novel. The readers can be given the clue of how the character is by knowing ―how
the person reacts to various situations and events‖ p. 168. Here readers can see the quality of a character in dealing with conflicts or problems arise.
The author can describe or comment on person‘s character directly, he will direct his opinion about a character in the story itself. A direct knowledge of what
a person is thinking about, which is called thoughts, can also be the clue to understand one‘s character. What in the person‘s mind and what he feels reflect
on the character. Then the last is the mannerism. A person‘s habit in the novel and his
eccentricity could reveal the character of a person delivered by the author.
2. Theory of Psychology
