Background of the Study
In this study, the writer intends to analyze the main character by comparing three short stories. Pickering states that without character, there would
be no plot and no story 19. Character is very important to develop the story and help the readers understand the story. Understanding the characteristics of the
main characters can be the guidance in analyzing the problems discussed in this study.
The writer is interested in discussing about the influence of the absence of love towards the main characters’ behavior, because the writer finds that love is
one thing that is close to human life. Love is one of many needs that human have. This study, hence, discusses the influence of love to the human psychology,
especially to human behavior. Love can make one do anything to obtain it. When we lose our love, our life will change, because love gives big impacts in human
life. The three short stories discussed are The Darling by Anton Chekhov, A
Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and The Horse Dealer’s Daughter by D. H. Lawrence. Those three short stories are selected based on the consideration that
they portray different influences of the absence of love in the main characters’ behavior. Besides, those three short stories are very interesting, especially for the
writer. The writer is interested in exploring more about the main characters. It is known that one’s characteristics can be developed and changed depends on what
one experiences in life. The first short story, The Darling by Anton Chekhov, tells about Olenka,
the daughter of a collegiate assessor who has retired. She marries to Kukin, the
manager of the amusement park. But Kukin dies while in Moscow on a business trip. Olenka goes into deep mourning, but within a few months she marries
Pustovalov, a manager of the timber merchant. After Pustovalov passed away, Olenka begins an affair with Smirnin, an army veterinary surgeon who is
separated from his wife. The second short story, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, tells about
an account of the life and death of Miss Emily Grierson. Miss Emily’s house has been closed to the public for ten years. At the time of her death, many people
come to pay their respects and see the house. In 1894, Colonel Sartoris, the mayor, established that Miss Emily would not pay any taxes since her father had
loaned some money to the city. The death of the two people very close to her, her father and her fiancé, contributes to the specification of Miss Emily’s character.
The third short story, The Horse Dealer’s Daughter by D. H. Lawrence, tells about Mabel whose parents died and then lives with her brothers. Mabel is a
silent, impassive, and very indifferent girl. She is a girl who lacks of love. Her brothers do not care about her; they even call her “bulldog”. One day, she tries to
commit suicide by drowning herself in a pond. That is the time when she believes that there is someone who loves her because a man has saved her. That man is a
young doctor named Jack Fergusson. The writer chooses to discuss The Darling, A Rose for Emily, and The
Horse Dealer’s Daughter because the writer argues that the three short stories have similarity in having the theme of the impacts of the absence of love towards
the main characters’ behavior. The other reason is because the psychological
influences of the absence of love in each main character’s behavior are different. Based on the fact above, the writer analyzes the three short stories by discussing
about the behavior of the main characters after they experience the absence of love in their life.