to analyze the author’s technique in describing institutional cruelty. In his research, Widyatmoko aims to relate between the characters and the institutional
cruelty, on how the characters could represent it. The research on Plea
sure in John Boyne’s Dark-themed Novel Entitled The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
is different from Nurhandayani’s and Widyamoko’s. It differs from the previous research because it analyses the most important aspect
of children’s learning process which is pleasure. Furthermore, the topic of the
research is also different because this research focuses on the dark themes of the novel
. This research differs from Nurhandayani’s because it analyses the specific dark themes of the novel and the pleasure embodied in the novel which
represented by the main characters. This research also differs from Widyatmoko’s
because it took different approach to the novel. It focuses on finding the pleasure of the main characters and it does not relate any of the topics with
the author’s point of view. Thus, this research is different compared to the previous studies
because it has different approach upon the dark themed novel. In addition, the researcher could propose the novelty of this research from the previous studies.
D. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework is needed to guide and understand the researcher’s way of thinking in doing the research of
Pleasure of John Boyne’s Dark-themed Novel Entitled The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. The research starts from the idea
of dark themes in children’s literature, that children should not be excluded from knowing any kinds of emotions in life. Thus, children’s literature should provide
a form of understanding about the dark side of life through literature. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is one of many novels which try to bring
reality closer to children’s perspective of thinking. The war, conflict, holocaust,
and death are seen to be one of the hardest themes to be brought in children’s
literature. Boyne’s tries to give the message to children about the humanity children’s should feel while reading the story. Furthermore, Boyne comes to
children’s perspective to tell the story from their innocence eyes to see every conflict in the novel. This book is able to tell children that there is pleasure in
reading a book with dark themes in it. There are two theories that are combined to work hand in hand in order to
find the pleasure of the novel. Childr en’s literature theory is applied to unveil the
role of children’s literature to help children to cope with the world around them. The aim of children’s literature is to give a better understanding to children about
the world and to grow the deepest humanity side of them. The pleasure of children’s literature theory is applied to unveil the pleasure of the main
characters. Furthermore, pleasure is the spirit of life in which children should understand in experiencing life events. Thus, pleasure should exist in every books
children’s read and books contain dark themes should not be excluded from the pleasure of life experience.
The theoretical framework of this research can be seen in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: The Scheme of Theoretical Framework
Children’s Literature
Pleasure of children’s literature Dark themes in children’s literature
1. What are dark themes found in John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped
Pyjamas? 2. How do the dark themes represent the pleasure of the main
characters?
John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Pleasure in John Boyne’s Dark-themed Novel Entitled The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
