having to choose your own name. You think about it a long time and then you keep changing your mind. If I should ever have children I will tell
them what religion they are so they can start learning about it at an early age. Twelve is very late to learn. Sincerely, Margaret Ann Simon Blume,
1970: 143.
Quotation above shows Margaret new concept in looking he religious matter. She realizes that choosing a religion is not a simple thing as what people
do when they are choosing a name. She realizes that she is wrong when she thinks choosing religion is an easy thing. She becomes aware that it is not as simple as
what she thinks. She knows that she has to know and learn the religion deeper before she decides to be in one religion. In addition, she considers parents should
teach religion to their children from the early age. In Margaret‘s opinion what has
happened to her is wrong. Her parent should teach her a religion from her ealy age because twelve is too late.
B. Explicit and Implicit Themes and Sub-Themes
There are some categories that show how the researcher divides the types of themes in novel Are You There God? It‘s Me Margaret. There are two types of
themes of category made by the researcher which can be seen below.
1. Implicit Themes
Most of themes in this novel are categorized into implicit theme. The form of implicit sentences that stated in this novel has implied meaning that make the
researcher have to define the true meaning by herself. Some statements that indicate implicit themes can be seen below.
“My mother says God is a nice idea. He belongs to everybody
”Blume, 1970: 4. From the quotation, the researcher
can conclude those sentences have an implied meaning. The researcher not only defines the meaning based on the real words but also connect it with the
background of the story. From the Margaret‘s statement, the researcher knows the
implied meaning of the sentences that Margaret‘s mother tries to teach her children, Margaret, to know about the existence of God in her life. However, she
does not insist Margaret to have a certain religion whether Margaret has to choose the same religion with her parents. Margaret‘s mother gives her freedom to
choose a certain religion that she wants. Another statement that shows implied meaning can be seen in the dialogue
below. What reminded me of Moose was that he cut our grass and cleaned up our
leaves and said hed be back in the spring. So unless I bumped into him at Nancys house I wouldnt see him all winter. Not that he even knew I
existed —Id had to hide from him ever since that We must—we must
incident. But I watched him secretly from my bedroom window Blume, 1970: 62.
The quotation above has implied meaning because the meanings of the sentence are not stated clearly from the words written in the text, but the
researcher has to define the true meaning by connecting to the story of the novel. Looking at the story of the novel, the researcher can describe the true meaning of
the sentence is about Margaret‘s feeling toward Moose in which Margaret does not have confidence to show her special feeling to Moose, so she has to be a
secret admirer.
2. Explicit Sub-Themes
