CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
The literary work can be divided into fiction, poetry, prose, essay, and drama. Novel is one of those literary works which belongs to fiction. Novel is simply
one way of telling story and a literary work that is most popular in the world because of the extensive communication in society. Novel is a medium that describes what is
in the mind of the author and tells a story of someone’s life and novel is part or better one genre of literature Ciara Reeve, 1785. Everyone certainly must have read,
enjoyed, and appreciated a novel. In the novel, the author expresses imagination and deep human feelings poured through several elements such as character and plot. The
main character is the most important part in a novel because it functions as a medium to introduce various characteristics and human nature to the reader to make the story
interesting. According to Kenney 1966:34, there are a number of methods in
presenting the character; discursive, dramatic, characters on other characters, contextual and mixing methods. And the author describes the characters into three
aspects; there are Physiological, Sociological, and Psychological aspects. This study is focused to analyze the psychological of the main character in the novel. Psychology
is the mental or behavioral characteristics typical of an individual or group or a particular form of behavior.
Character is the person, in a dramatic or a narrative work, endowed with normal and qualities that are expressed in what they say the dialogue, and what they
do the action Nurgiyantoro, 2007:165. In telling the story, we have to be
concerned about the happening not merely the outcome, but also the process and the result toward an end.
From the explanation above, literature was chosen as a topic because the topic is interesting enough to analyze. The topic itself focuses on the psychological
analysis of the main character of America Singer in the novel The selection by Kiera Cass. The writer described ‘America’ as a figure of a girl who believes in what she
believed and the writer has high imagination in writing this novel by creating a country that has eighth caste which is determined from the type of work. ‘America’ is
the fifth because she is a singer who follows the competition into the royal ladies called ‘The Selection’. America Singer story in this novel makes the reader learn
about life value that everything is not always according to what we want and have a faith in everything we do in our lives.
The plot in this Novel The Selection is made by through the arrangement of conflicts of America Singer as the main character who has dealt with internal and
external conflicts in this novel. A conflict happens because of differences. It can happen inside of a person or between someone and another individual, also with
society. 1.2
Problem of the Study The problem of the present study focuses on the main character of
America Singer. Based on the background above, the problems can be formulated as follows:
1. What types of conflicts happen in the character the America Singer? 2. How does the author describe the character America Singer in term of
psychological aspects?
1.3 Aims of the Study
The general aims of this study focuses on the analysis of the main character in the novel and to get the complement of the question in the matters above. There
are three aims of this study based on the problem: 1. To describe the character America Singer.
2. To analyze the internal and external conflicts in the character America Singer. 3. To analyze the character America Singer in terms of psychological aspect.
1.4 Scope of Discussion
Actually, there are many problems that can be discussed from this novel; however, the present study limits to the discussion of the followings:
1. The personality about the character America Singer. 2. The conflicts between the character and the others characters.
3. The character in terms of psychological aspects.
1.5 Research Method
The research method applied in this study consists of three major categories, they are; Data Source, Method and Technique of Collecting Data, and
Method and Technique of Analyzing Data. 1.5.1 Data Source
The data of this study were taken from the novel The Selection written by Kiera Cass 2012. It is the first book in The Selection Series, followed by The Elite
and The One. The Selection is a young adult, dystopian and romance novel. It was released on April 24, 2012 through Harper Collins Publishers. This novel has 327
pages and was the New York time best seller in April 2013 www.nytimes.com and
being best seller Top 10 books Girl Women fiction in Amazon www.amazon.com.
This novel was chosen as the data source because it presents a romance of the America Singer, a young girl who joined a competition to be the next lady of a
country called Illeà but, in fact, she did not want. This country was created by the author that has eighth caste social status which is determined from the type of work.
The reason for choosing the character the America Singer to be analyzed is because in a society she lives in the same situation as us. The character’s behaviors in the novel
are rarely seen in the real life. The character the America Singer is the most telling figure in the novel.
1.5.2 Method and Technique of Collecting Data
As the most important part of this study, collecting the data needs to follow a certain procedure in order to complete this study. The data were collected
through the documentation method. Documentation means collecting data about things such as notes, transcripts, books, newspaper, magazine, agendas, etc.
Arikunto, 2006: 158. The technique used in this documentation method was note taking. These were the techniques of collecting data used in this study:
1. First, reading the novel The Selection repeatedly and intensively in order to understand the object of the depiction of the character and making the
synopsis. 2. Second, taking notes of the dialogues and actions that support to analyze the
characterization of the character in the novel. 3. The last, analyzing conflicts between the characters and describing the
character in terms of psychological aspect.
1.5.3 Method and Technique of Analyzing Data
In this study, the data were analyzed using the qualitative-descriptive method based on the theoretical books. The analysis of this study applied the theories
of conflict and the psychological conflict. The theories that are used to analyze the problem were the psychological theory proposed by Karl S. Bernhardt, and the theory
of conflict proposed by Gail and Myers. Then the methods used by the author in presenting the main character in the novel based on the theory proposed by William
Kenney “How to Analyze Fiction” 1966 and theory about character by Wellek and Warren “Theory of Literature” 1955 as supporting theories.
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW, CONCEPT AND THEORITICAL
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