Criticism on The Crocodile Bird

24 intelligent, independent, and resourceful? She states that The Crocodile Bird provides much food for thought for mature teens who have a taste for the unexpected. Rendell is also said to be one of the finest practitioners of the craft in the English-speaking world by The New York Times Book review. She also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. As Barbara Vine, she also writes crime and psycological novels.

C. Theoretical Framework

In conducting the study, I utilize some references for analyzing the novel. I employ the psychological approach proposed by Rorhberger and Woods. Jr. to analyse the main character in the story. Pickering’s and Murphy’s theories of character and characterization are going to be employed in this study. The theory of characterization is needed to determine the characters’ type. It is important for me to understand the ways of characterization because they are the basis of all literature analysis. The theory of motivation is used to know the motivation of the main characters in choosing their lifestyles. Since characters in the novel are similar to those in real life, we can employ this theory. While the theory of motivation deals with the forces behind the choosing, the theory of lifestyles is employed to analyze the types of lifestyles that the characters choose. It is also employed to find out the determinants of lifestyles that the characters in the novel have chosen. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 25

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter consists of three sections. The first section subject matter, that is the explanation of the subject discussed , the second section is the description of the approach that I employ in this thesis, and the third section is the description of procedure conducted in working on the thesis.

A. Subject Matter

This thesis analyzes a novel entitled The Crocodile Bird published by Arrow Books in 1994. This novel consists of 359 pages, printed in paperback. The author is Ruth Rendell, a reporter, journalist, editor, and writer. She has published many best selling mystery and psychological crime novels. She also has earned many awards for her works, like the Silver, Gold, and Cartier Diamond Daggers from the Crime Writers Association, three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America, The Arts Council National Book Awards, and the Sunday Times Literary Award. She is famous for her elegant prose and sharp insights into the human mind, as well as her ability to create intricate plots and characters. She has also given contribution to the society through her works which reflect the social changes and bring awareness to such issues as domestic violence and the change in the status of women. Liza and Eve are the main characters in The Crocodile Bird. Liza is a seventeen year old girl who lives with her mother, isolated in the gatehouse of a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 26 country mansion, Shrove. Before her seventeen birthday, Liza is forced to leave the gatehouse because her mother, Eve, has killed a man. This is not the first one. Liza has seen her mother kill three men but the police only accuses Eve for one murder that she commits. Instead of going to Eve’s bestfriend’s address , Liza goes to her boyfriend’s caravan in the wood. There , she describes her lonely life for almost seventeen years and what Eve has done. Here , Liza is analogized as the crocodile bird , a creature that can live safely in the mouth of a predator, a crocodile , and even gives a sign of dangers to the crocodile.

B. Approach

The thesis will use the psychological approach. Using the psychological approach means that we use the psychology theories to analyze the work of literature Rohrberger and Woods, Jr., 1971:3. The thing that is being analyzed is human behaviour pattern appears in the novel. It means that literature is closely related to psychology because characters and stories in literary works are a reflection of human relationship in the real world which is often examined from the perspective of psychology. By this means, I will use theories of psychology to analyze the characters in the novel.

C. Procedure

The study on Ruth Rendell’s The Crocodile Bird was conducted by applying the library research. I used the novel itself as the primary source and collected some books as the secondary sources, the study on Rendell’s works, and also the critics to her works.