Objective of the Study Definitions of Terms

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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW

This chapter consists of four parts. The first part is some review of related studies. The second part presents some review of related theories, and the last part is the theoretical framework.

A. Review of Related Studies

Little House in the Big Woods is one of the Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. First time published in 1932, it is the first book of the series. Little House series are translated into many languages and sold over 60 million copies. As best-seller books, there are many discussions about what happens in Little House series. The book has been an object of discussions with some themes. Lukens categorizes Little House series as classics childrens literature. Lukens states, “Classics are books that have worn well, attracting readers from one generation to the next” 1995:28. Books which are included in Classics are those that are always used and read by the readers across generations. Lukens’ opinion concerning the meaning of Classics as exciting work for two or three generations puts Little House series in a certain position in American childrens literature. Fellman also supports the opinion that the Little House series have an important role in American culture. In her deep research and various studies, she examines the influence of Little House series and its author in the culture, as well as in American literature. Fellman’s various studies cover from how characters are depicted in the novel to a research on what political effect that the novel brings. Fellman states, “From the 1940s to the present day, there is scarcely a bibliography or a guide to childrens literature that does not include the Little House series as a noteworthy addition to even the smallest school or public library” 2008:124. This denotes that Little House series have influenced American childrens literature. Fellman says that the Little House series are always in the list because the Little House series is also included in the criteria of good children’s literature from time to time. In the 1920s, childrens stories for boys are usually about adventure stories and the theme of home and school stories are for girls and “the Little House books met all these criteria” 2008:123. In 1960, Fellman found that the Little House series met the criteria of children’s literature proposed by May Hill Arbuthnot on a good children’s literature, which “strengthen a child for the difficult tasks involved in growing up” 2008:126. Fellman says, “Arbuthnot and those she influenced consistently cite Wilders books as meeting all these needs for children” 2008:126. Since it suits to the grand standard of children’s literature, Little House series gains an important position at certain place. The above statements support the notion that Little House series are children’s literature literature for children. Little House series are books that are mostly read by American children and in some ways have become major work of children’s literature in the field of English children’s literature. Concerning with children’s literature, Sarumpaet conducts a study on Indonesian children’s literature. Her study is about how parents treat children. Here she puts forward the relation of adults and children in children literature. Sarumpaet 2010:108 gives a type of guidance in using postcolonial point of view in doing research on children’s literature. The essay, entitled Sastra Anak: Penjajah dan Taklukannya , uses postcolonial approach in discussing two children’s short stories as the focus of the study. Sarumpaet in the beginning of her essay is questioning children’s position in their literature. She states, “children’s literature is a literary work that is consumed by children and under concerning and created by adult” 2010:100. Citing John Locke, Sarumpaet states, “… the mind of children is the same to a blank paper known as Tabula Rasa, it is ready to be written on” 2010:106. According to Locke, children are raw materials that require a process to be useful Locke cited in Sarumpaet, 2010:109. In other words, children are considered as unprocessed material. The concept of children stated by Locke influences how adults see children until nowadays. Sarumpaet states that adults often see children as an object. Sarumpaet also explains the point about the position of adult. This can be seen in Sarumpaet’s study on Margantoro’s Si Blirik, which tells about a duck that escaped from its house and tried to follow a goose. In the trip the duck found that living outside the house is dangerous. The duck saw a lot of miserable things. As the story is nearing to its end, the duck felt a strong regret and missed its mother. Sarumpaet comments, “this is an example of narrative format of House-Outside-House that describes the child as the protagonist who really wants to leave the house and at the end comes back to the house and the family’s secure because he has learned from his ‘inanity’” 2010:108. The story shows the massive power of family and the concept of home. The idea is that children will be safe when they are at home with the family. The story constructs a concept of children as persons that are attached to their family. This study is intended to analyze the aspect of relation between the characters in the story. Therefore this study shares a similarity with the one that is conducted by Sarumpaet. Sarumpaet’s study focuses on the position of adults and children in children’s literature. This study will not discuss the external aspect, such as the influence of the story to the readers, or the effect of certain social and historical background toward the story. The writer assumes that this study will provide another kind of explanation of the identification of the book as an important work of children’s literature.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Character and Characterization

Abrams provides two definitions of character. Firstly, character refers to type of person. This denotes the personality traits of the person. Secondly, character is addressed to “the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, which are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say, dialogue, and what they do, the action” 1981:22. Roger Henkle classifies characters into major and minor characters. Major character is the main character in the literary work and becomes the readers’ focus of attention. Major character has a fullest attention for the readers. They will have opinions that he or she will represent their wish and thought, and may becomes the major figure that build their expectation and desire, which in modification shift or established their values 1977:92. Meanwhile, minor character is character with limited function, so that they deserve less attention from the readers 1977:95. Character is different to characterization. Holman and Harmon say that characterization is the creation of imagery persons so that they exist for the readers as alive 1986:81. Therefore, characterization is a way the author creates the character. Characterization is a way used by the author to present the reader with the characters he create. According to Murphy, there are some ways in which the readers can understand the characters. The first way is through personal descriptions; readers can understand the characters through how they are described in their appearance in details such as clothes, color of skin or their hair, etc. The second method is through how the character as seen by the others ; the author describe the character by the opinion of other characters around. The third is by speech; what the character says can tell the readers about the character. By knowing the character’s past life, the reader also can examine the characteristics of the character. Another method is by conversation of other ; similar to the second method, the reader can understand the characters by what people say about them. Reactions of the character towards various situations in the