Theoretical Framework The meanings of the decision to commit suicide as seen in Veronika, the main character of Paulo Coelho`s Veronika Decides to Die.

26 Veronika Decides to Die is one of his novels that he wrote based on her personal experience when he was a young man and he was sent three times to a mental hospital by his parents because he wanted to be a writer. Through the life of the main character of the novel entitled Veronika Decides to Die, Paulo Coelho reveals his personal experience. Paulo Coelho created a fictional character named Veronika who decides to commit suicide and who feels powerless to change anything. There are five major characters of this novel who play great roles. Veronika is the main character; she is the center of the story. The other characters are Zedka who suffers from depression, Mari who suffers from panic attack and Eduard, a schizophrenic man with whom Veronika is falling in love. The last character is Dr.Igor, who believes that the cause of insanity is Vitriol, a poison which the body produces and Veronika is becoming the object of his experiment. The major character that will be analyzed in this study is Veronika, but the writer also regards other characters. However, the discussion on Veronika’s characteristics cannot be separated from the other characters since they are play role in influencing Veronika’s personality.

3.2 Approach of the Study

This study uses a psychological approach as one of the Critical Approaches— introduced by Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. in their work Reading and Writing About 27 Literature published in 1971. The Critical Approaches which are introduced by Rohrberger and Woods, Jr are The Formalist Approach, the Biographical Approach, the Sociocultural-Historical Approach, the Mythopoeic Approach, and the Psychological Approach. According to Rohrberger and Woods, Jr a critical approach to literature necessitates an understanding of its nature, function, and positive values. Furthermore, Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. 1971 state that “one must know what literature is, how to read it, and how to judge it” p. 3. Moreover, Rohrberger and Woods, Jr. believe that it is necessary to use the critical approaches, which consist of five approaches, in order to understand a literary works. In this study, the writer uses Freud’s psychoanalytic theory as the main approach. Freud composed that humans have three elements of personality: the id, the ego and the superego. Psychological approach is used to answer research questions formulated in chapter I as the problem formulations. This approach can help the writer to understand the main characters’ personality and the literal meaning of the decision to commit suicide. The psychological approach is also useful for the writer to find the extrinsic aspects of the novel or the true meaning. The psychological approach helps the writer to interpret the psychological aspect of the main character in the novel. The character is analyzed to draw the clear lines to the understanding of character psychology.