b. Engagement
An alternative route to well-being is through engaging in activities that are engrossing and absorbing, a state that has deemed ‗flow‘. Although the subjective
experience during these states is void of emotion, on reflection, people report that these situations are enjoyable. Flow also transforms important yet mundane tasks
into interesting activities. For example, creating a game from one‘s math homework by seeing how many problems one could solve in 30 min makes the
assignment feel less bothersome and increases intrinsic motivation. Flow states, therefore, may lead to long-term well-being through promoting positive resources,
such as nurturing talents, cultivating interest, and honing skills. We would therefore expect that individuals who endorse frequently entering flow are more
productive and achieve higher levels of success. Some preliminary evidence supports this as those who frequently experience flow persistent longer on tasks
and there-fore achieve better outcomes.
c. Meaning
The final pathway suggested by Seligman 2002 is to pursue happiness through meaning. Theorists and researchers have often proposed that finding
meaning in one‘s life is an important determinant of psychological well-being. Meaning allows one to transcend oneself, either through promoting positive social
relationships or connecting to a higher power or purpose Seligman, 2002. An individual achieves meaning in life when his or her life is experienced as
purposeful, significant, and understandable. This sense of purpose provides individuals with goals that guide action and promote well-being.
C. Theoretical Framework
In order to answer the research questions that are stated in the previous chapter, some theories are needed. They are the theory of symbol and the theory
of happiness by Seligman in Pursuit of Pleasure, Engagement, and Meaning. First, to answer the first of the research question, theory of symbol is used to
know what are the symbols in the story that becomes important part in this study. In Eat Pray Love, the researcher finds out that the three countries reveal the
symbolic meaning to the story. Thus, theory of symbols is needed. Arp and Johnson‘s theory on Symbols is chosen since the theory provides the pointers to
find the symbols employed in a novel. After identifying the so called ―alleged‖ symbols, one needs to observe if their meanings are ―established and supported by
the entire context of the story‖ Arp and Johnson, 2006: 280. If the alleged symbols do not have meaning inside instead of outside of the story, one should be
reluctant to say them as symbols. Second, in answering the research question number two, the writer needs the
theory of happiness that is proposed by Seligman to relate the connection between the symbol of eating, prayer, and, love with the three indicators of happiness.
According to Seligman, this supports his notion that a ‗full life‘ consists of experiencing positive emotions, pursuing engagement, and obtaining meaning
Seligman, 2002; 253.
Moreover the theory of happiness that is indicated with the three pathways helps the writer to examine the symbols in the novel that reflects happiness. The
three pathways of happiness are proposed by Seligman. They are revealed in the words eating, prayer, and love that the main character got while doing a journey
across the three countries.
17
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
Eat Pray Love is a novel written by Elizabeth Gilbert, published by the Penguin Group in February 2006 as its first edition. Gilbert wrote this novel during her
journey across the three countries; Italy, India, and Indonesia. Eat Pray Love as a New York Times best seller novel for over 200 weeks, is also made into a film by the
same name Eat Pray Love http:www.elizabethgilbert.com. In 2010, the film adaption by Columbia Pictures was directed by Ryan Murphy
and starred Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert, Javier Bardem as Felipe, James Franco as David Piccolo, Richard Jenkins as Richard from Texas, and Billy Crudup as
Steven. The success of Eat Pray Love brought the novel into over ten million copies and got the first position on the Booksense Paperback Nonfiction List for over a year
http:www.imdb.comtitle. This novel is about a woman‘s search for everything across Italy, India, and
Indonesia. The main character in the novel, Elizabeth Gilbert, tells how she made the
difficult choices to leave modern American success including marriage, house, and a successful career as a writer and find out what she truly wanted in life by doing the
journey across the three countries. The countries that Gilbert visited are symbolized
through the title of the novel Eat Pray Love. Gilbert spent four months in Italy, eating
and enjoying life, so eating represents Italy. Then she spent three months in India finding her spirituality through praying, the word praying in the title symbolize
activity she has done in India. Gilbert ended the year in Indonesia looking for balance in life and felt in love with a Brazilian businessman, thus love is found in Indonesia.
Elizabeth Gilbert‘s Eat Pray Love reflects the way of Gilbert in searching her happiness from life through the eating activity, the prayer, and the love. Those three
things symbolize happiness for Gilbert based on Seligman‘s theory of authentic happiness. Seligman‘s theory reveals that happiness is achieved when the three
indicators are found; pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Thus, the writer concludes that Gilbert finds her happiness by examining the three indicators in her eating
activity, prayer, and love.
B. Approach of the Study
After knowing the object of the study, the writer needs to determine the approach of the study to answer the formulated research questions. The approach that is used in
this study is structuralism which is focused on the content of the symbolic meaning in the novel. The reason for the appropriateness of structuralism as the approach lies in
the Saussure‘s statement. According to Saussure, a key figure in the development of modern approaches to language study, the meanings of words are relational. That is to
say, no word can be defined in isolation from other words. The definition of any
given word depends upon its relation with other adjoining words. This relational aspect of language gave rise to a famous remark of Saussure‘s: ‗In a language there
are only differences, without fixed terms‘. For Saussure, language constitutes our world; it does not just record it or label it. Meaning is always attributed to the object
or idea by the human mind, and constructed by and expressed through language: it is not already contained within the thing Barry, 2002:41-43.
So structurali st‘s thinking stressed on the structuralist‘s comments on structure,
symbol, and design, become paramount, and are the main focus of the commentary Barry, 2002:52. Based on that reason, structuralism is the most suitable approach
for this study since it attempts to see the object of the study through the symbolic meaning. The symbolic meaning in this novel leads to observe the words eating,
prayer, and love as the indicators of happiness, correlated with the theory of happiness by Seligman.
Seligman defines the happiness is reached as seen in the Eat Pray Love’s
symbols, thus structuralism becomes the most suitable tool in this study correlated with Saussure‘s statement in structuralism ―Language constitutes the world‖ Barry,
2002:43. Language that is used in Eat Pray Love constitutes the deeper meaning about happiness that has been through by Gilbert. The appropriateness of
structuralism as the approach also lies in the Selden‘s statement that ―At the heart of structuralism is the scientific ambition to discover the codes, the rule, the systems,
which underlie all human social and cultural practices‖ Selden, 2005: 90. The codes
