10 several times reminds us of some constant elements
in a story‟s world. Last, a symbol that recurs in varying context helps to define or clarify theme.
In order to find and analyze symbols, Perrine 1974 also has a notion about how to find a symbol in a literary work. First, the readers should pay
attention on how the author gives certain details of an object, action or people. Symbols are often indicated by emphasis, detail repetition or position. Second, the
meaning of a symbol should be established and connected with the whole story because the meaning of the symbol depends on the context of the story, not
outside. A symbol in a literary work has meanings beyond its literal meaning. Symbols may have more than one meaning, but the meaning is still connected
with the context of the literary work. Those theories will help the writer to find and analyze the symbol in the literary work by applying it in the analysis process.
2. Relation of Symbols and Theme
According to Stanton 1965 symbols can be used to reveal the theme of a literary work. Stanton states that:
“Ideas and emotion often seem as real as any physical fact; yet they are invisible, intangible things. In literature, one way of giving them this
vividness of reality is to use symbols –concrete, factual details that evoke
these ideas and emotions in the rea der‟s mind” p.31
The main idea here refers to the theme of the story. The quotation above
shows that symbols can be used to reveal the theme of the novel through the memorable things for the readers. In addition, Guerin 2005 explains that
symbols can be used to reveal the idea of a story, “an awareness of multiple
meanings, even the etymologies of words as traced in dictionaries, will offer significant guidelines to what the work says” p. 74. The quotation shows that the
11 awareness of multiple meanings refers to the memorable thingssymbol which
may suggest more than one meaning. Guerin 2005 also adds more explanation about how to find the theme from a work by noticing some suspicious things.
“We note that certain images, or colors, or references to time−a host of possibilities in our human experience−keep coming up. Some of these may
contribute to the setting of the work, its actual place and time, or more subtly, its ambience. Bit by bit, we think we began to see a theme
emerging from the work” p.75. According to Perrine 1974 theme is a controlling or a central idea of a
fiction. It means that the meaning of the words or symbols can be used to reveal or to explain the theme of a literary work. The theories from Guerin 2005 and
Perrine 1974 strengthen the idea of revealing the theme through symbols. It can be concluded that suspicious objects, characters, particular colors or
maybe an unforgettable event which are realized by the readers as the focus of the story can be considered as the moment when the readers finally find the theme of
a literary work.
3. Happiness
According to Seligman 2002 the theory of authentic happiness consists of three different paths to well-being; pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Each
path supports each other. Therefore, people need to cultivate all of them to achieve a full life. Seligman 2007 states that empirical work has shown that the
path is different, because each path is a unique predictor of life satisfaction, and their presence was associated with the higher level of life satisfaction. It is
supported by Seligman‟s 2002 idea that a “full life” consists of experiencing
