the character that does not reveal any growth or development. The static character does not undergo changes in the story, whereas, the growing character undergoes
changes and development in the story. The change or the development may take form of turning point in life, or the character’s spiritual journey.
In this study, the mother, Pelagea Nilovna, resembles the round and growing character.
2.1.2. Theory of Characterization
If characters are the persons in the story, characterization means the way the author explains or characterizes the characters. By means of characterization, we can
be sure that the story is alive. The way the author characterizes his or her characters plays a significant role to help the reader understand the characters. Pelagea Nilovna,
the mother, is characterized through various ways by the author in the novel. According to Abrams 24-25, there are two broad categories of characterizing
the characters, namely, telling and showing. In telling, the author has the authority to describe the characters. The author also informs “the motives and dispositional
qualities of the characters” by directly explaining to the reader through sentences, so that, the reader straightforwardly understand the character. However, in showing, the
author characterizes the characters in an indirect ways. The reader is to deduce the motives and the dispositions of the characters by what they speak and act. This
method of characterizing is often termed “the dramatic method.” PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
In addition to the broad distinctions of characterization explained by Abrams, the classic work of Murphy helps us reveal the ways the author characterize the
characters in greater depth. According to Murphy 161-173, there are nine ways of how an author characterizes the characters. They are:
a. Personal description The author gives the descriptions of personal physical appearances of
certain characters to the reader by, for example, telling what the character is wearing, the color of the hair, eye, and so on. There is a good example
in Maxim Gorky’s Mother in the way of describing Pelagea: She was tall and somewhat stooped. … Her wide oval face,
puffy and wrinkled, was lighted by dark eyes filled with fear and grief,… Above her right eyebrow was a deep scar…
Streaks of white shone in her thick dark hair. She was all softness and sadness and submissiveness… .
16-7
b. Characters as seen by others Here, the author characterizes a certain character by means of other
characters’ opinions. c. Speech
What the character says throughout the novel may hint his or her character.
d. Past life The past life of a certain character told by hisher own speeches and
conversations or by the author’s direct telling or by other characters’ PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
speeches may also be the method of characterizing a particular character. For example when Pavel, Pelagea’s son, told his mother:
Just think of the life we live Here you are forty years old, and what have you ever known? Father beat you—now I know that
he took his troubles out on you, all bitterness of his life. Something kept pressing down on him, but he didn’t know
what… What joy have you ever known? ... What good things have you to remember?
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e. Conversation of others From the conversation from other characters, the author can also give
hints about the characterization of a particular character. f. Reactions
In order to reveal the characterization of a certain character, it can also be seen from the reactions of the character in dealing with certain conditions
or events facing the character. g. Direct comment
The author can also give direct comments by telling the reader directly through sentences that show the characterization of certain character. For
example: Thus lived Mikhail Vlassov, a sullen, hirsute mechanic with
tiny eyes that glared suspiciously and with spiteful scorn from under his bushy eyebrows. He was the best mechanic at the
factory and the strongest man in the settlement, but he was surly with his superiors, and for that reason made little money.
12 h. Thoughts
In a way of characterizing a person, the author can give “direct knowledge” to the reader so as to know what other people or characters
are thinking. i. Mannerism
In this way, the author describes the character’s manners or habits or traits or behavior in helping the reader understand the character.
These are some specific ways to find the characterization of a particular character in a novel presented in Murphy.
2.1.3. Theory of Personality
