18
an interpretation of it as referring to actual existence. A discisign necessarily involves, as a part of it, a Rheme, to describe the fact
which it is interpreted as indicating.
44
A dicent is a sign that capable of being translated into a proposition.
45
• Argument: is a sign which, for its Interpretant, is a Sign of law. Or we may say that a Rheme is a sign which is understood to represent its
object in its characters merely; that a decisign is a sign which is understood to represent its object in respect to actual existence; and
that an Argument is a Sign which is understood to represent its Object in its character as Sign.
46
An argument is a sign whose rational necessity must be acknowledged.
47
3. Ten Classes of Signs
The three trichotomies of Signs result together in dividing Signs into ten classes of signs, of which numerous subdivisions have to be considered. The ten
classes are as follows:
48
• A Qualisign [e.g., a feeling of ‘red’] is any quality in so far as is a sign. • An Iconic Sinsign [e.g., an individual diagram] is any object an
experience in so far as some quality of it makes it determine the idea of an object.
44
Robert E. Innis 1985, loc.cit.
45
Die Welt Als Zeichen 1987, loc.cit.
46
Robert E. Innis 1985, loc.cit.
47
Die Welt Als Zeichen 1987, loc.cit.
48
Robert E. Innis 1985, op.cit. p. 19 - 21
19
• A Rhematic Indexical Sinsign [e.g., a spontaneous cry] is an object of direct experience so far as it directs attention to an object which its
presence is caused. • A Dicent Sinsign [e.g., weathercock] is any object of direct experience,
in so far as it is a sign, and, as such, affords information concerning its object.
• An Iconic Legisign [e.g., a diagram, apart from its factual individuality] is any general law type, in so far as it requires each
instance of it to embody a definite quality which renders it fit to call up in the mind the idea of a like object.
• A Rhematic Indexical Legisign [e.g., demonstrative pronoun] is any general type or law, however established, which requires each instance
of it to be really affected by its Object in such a manner as merely to draw attention to that Object.
• A Dicent Indexical Legisign [e.g., a street cry] is any general type or law, however established, which requires each instance of it to be
really affected by its Object in such a manner as to furnish definite information concerning that Object.
• A Rhematic Symbol or Symbolic Rheme [e.g., a common noun] is a sing connected with its Object by an association of general ideas in
such a way that its Replica calls up an image in the mind, which image, owing to certain habits or dispositions of that mind, tends to
produce a general concept, and the Replica is interpreted as a sign of an Object that is an instance of that concept.
20
• A Dicent Symbol, or ordinary proposition, is a sign connected with its object by an association of general ideas, and acting like a Rhematic
Symbol, except that its intended interpretant represent the Dicent Symbol as being, in respect to what it signifies, really affected by its
Object, so that the existence or law which it calls to mind must be actually connected with the indicated Object.
• An Argument is a sign whose interpretant represents its object as being an ulterior sign through a law, namely, the law that the passage from
all such premises to such conclusions tends to the truth.
E. The Meaning of Symbol
Pierce and Saussure used the term ‘symbol’ differently from each either.
While nowadays most theorists would refer to language as a symbolic sign- system, Saussure avoided referring to linguistic signs as ‘symbols’, since the
ordinary everyday use of this term refers to examples such as a pair of scales signifying justice, and he insisted that such signs are ‘never wholly arbitrary.
They are not empty configurations.’ They ‘show at least a vestige of natural connection’ between the signifier and the signified – a link which he later refers to
as ‘rational’.
49
A symbol may be a thing, place, action, person, or concept. In a literary
work it has its own objective reality – if it did not have such validity. It would be artificial and therefore weak – but it is used to carry greater meaning than its
49
Daniel Chandler 2002, op.cit. p. 38
21
simple presence might indicate. When a symbol is introduced, it is understood to signify the very specific things intended by the writer.
50
For pierce, a symbol is ‘a sign which refers to object that it denotes by virtue of a law, usually an association of general ideas, which operates to cause
the symbol to be interpreted as referring to that ‘object’.’The symbol is connected with its object by virtue of the idea of the symbol-using mind, without which no
such connection would exist’. A symbol is ‘conventional sign, or one depending upon habit acquired or inborn.
Symbol is a thing could be an object, person situation or action, which
stands for something else more abstract. According to Perrine, a symbol may be roughly defined as something that means more than what it is.
51
A symbol may
be private its meaning known only to one person, original it’s defined by its context in a particular work, or traditional its mean defined by our common
culture and heritage, and also symbol may be all of those definitions.
52
According to Sylvan Barnet, page 119. An “experience,” of course, is not a happening through which the author necessarily passed; rather, it is a thought, an
emotion, a vision that is meaningful and is embodied in the piece of fiction for all
to read. Inevitably the writer uses symbol.
53
50
Edgar V. Roberts, Writing Theme About Literature, United State: Prentice –Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1983, p. 100
51
Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. ARP, Sound and Sense: An Introduction to poetry, United States: Harcourt Brace College Publisher, Shoutern Metodist University, 1992, p. 80
52
James H Pickering and Jeffrey D. Hoeper, Concise Companion to Literature, New York, 1981. p. 150
53
Sylvan Barnet, a Short Guide to Writing about Literature. London: Batsford Academic and Educational, 1985, 5
th
ed., p. 119
22
F. Explication
An explication is a line by line or episode-by-episode commentary on what is going on in a text. An explication does not deal with the writer’s life or times,
and it is not a paraphrase, a rewording – tough it may include paraphrase – but a commentary revealing your sense of the meaning of work.
54
Another references said that explication is the act of opening, unfolding, or explaining; explanation; exposition; interpretation. The sense given by an
expositor. Theme is a method of literary criticism that analyzes details of a text in order to reveal its structure and meaning.
55
The idea and practice of explication is rooted in the verb to explicate, which concerns the process of unfolding and of making clear the meaning of
things, so as to make the implicit explicit. The expression explication is used in both analytic philosophy and literary theory.
According to Rudolf Carnap, explication can be regarded as a scientific
process which transforms and replaces an inexact prescientific concept which he calls the explicandum, with a new exact concept which he calls the
explicatum. A thesis which describes and explains the new explicit knowledge is usually called an Explication.
G. Theme
Theme is the central idea of the literary work.
56
According to Pickering, Concise Companion to literature, page 163, and theme is also used sometimes to
refer to the basic issue, problem, or subject with which the work is concerned. So
54
Ibid. p.11
55
http:www.synonym.comdefinitionexplication20de20texte. Accessed on 26
th
of October 2009
56
Laurence Perrine 1992 op.cit. p.23
23
that theme is main idea of a poem literary work. If the reader can’t get the theme of some literary work, it means the reader can’t get what the author want to show
in his literary work. And the reader can’t participate to the writer minds through a literary work.
In Herman J. Waluyo’s book, definition theme is: “Thema merupakan gagasan pokok atau subject – matter yang
dikemukakan oleh penyair. Pokok pikiran persoalan itu begitu kuat mendesak dalam jiwa penyair, sehingga menjadi landasan utama pengucapannya. Jika
desakan yang kuat itu berupa hubungan antara penyair dengan tuhan, maka puisi atau karya sastranya berupa ketuhanan”.
57
1. The Steps of Theme Analysis
