Character Definition of Terms
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Other related study that use the same work is Pranathalia Bondan Prasnorirni’s undergraduate thesis entitled “Revealing the Theme through
Characters and Settings: A Formalistic Study of Louis Lowry’s The Giver”. Pranathalia explores the descriptions on characters and settings to reveal the
theme the main idea of the novel. “All characters in the novel are pictured as good persons. They live with strict rules, etiquettes and habits that help to shape
their personalities. The setting in the novel is described as unemployment, peaceful, safe and comfortable society” 2004: x.
As Pranathalia mentioned above, she explains how the settings place and time can influence people’s characteristics in the novel. She explains the
descriptions on characters and settings one by one in details using formalistic approach to reveal the theme of the novel. Yet here the writer uses different
approach from Pranathalia’s undergraduate thesis. Since the focuses in the thesis is the character development of Jonas in The
Giver, the writer adds another related study that use the same approach. This study is taken from Nicki Astrianingsih’ undergraduate thesis entitled “A
Psychological Study of the Character Development of Maud in Sarah Water’s Fingersmith
”. Although the literary work that Nicki analyzed is different from the writer, it uses the same approach, which is psychological approach to understand
the character development of the main character in the novel. “Maud’s personality changes are affected by several conditions. Maud’s
personality development is supported by external factors. The external factors are the environment and her experiences that she gets in the madhouse, her uncle’s
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house, and in Lant Street. Social factor must be Maud’s factor to develop her character. Social factor includes people surround her and her family” 2011: xii.
In her undergraduate thesis, she analyzes the factors that make the character of Maud change. There are two factors that cause the characteristic of a
person to develop , namely internal and external factors. In her thesis, Maud’s
personality development is supported by the external factors. The external factors are the environment that she lives and her experiences that she gets.
From those related studies that the writer mentioned before, there are some similarities and differences. The first and the second related studies used the same
literary work, The Giver. In the first related study conducted by Yoseph Hary Wibowo, he focuses his study on the importance of the memory and the self-
actualization of Jonas. He uses psychological approach since the concept of memory and self-actualization are the significant theories in psychology. While
the second related study focused on revealing the theme of the novel through characters and settings using formalistic approach by Pranathalia Bondan
Prasnorirni. From this point, the writer found new topic that is discussed the character
development of Jonas. The writer tries to analyze how the character of Jonas developed and what are the factors that cause it develops. To enrich knowledge
about the character development using psychological approach, therefore, the writer adds another related study from Nicki Astrianingsih’s undergraduate thesis.