Theory of Character Theory of Characterization

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consists of three parts. The first part states reviews of related theories to support the analysis. They are theory of character, theory of characterization, theory of critical approaches, and theory of psychology. The second part talks about the influence of society to someone’s perception. Finally, the third part states theoretical framework that describes how the theories reviewed are applied to solve the problem of the study.

2.1 Review of Related Theories

This section will review theories that are considered relevant in this study. They are, first, theory of character which enhances understanding about character that is presented in the literary work. Second is the theory of characterization that helps to explain how an author characterizes the character in the story. The third is the theory of critical approaches which contains the approaches that are used in this study.

2.1.1 Theory of Character

There are some elements that we can consider in reading a novel or literary work such as characters, settings, plot, and themes. In this study, I will focus on the main character only. Commonly, most of the readers of the literary work know that there are two kinds of characters namely major and secondary characters. 6 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Further, Milligan 155 says, “Two kinds of characters found in a story namely major and secondary characters. Based on the rule in a story the major characters are those who appear more often than the other characters in the story, while the secondary characters are those who appear less often in the story.” Abrams defines the word character into two kinds. First, he defines character as “a literary genre: a short, usually witty, sketch in prose of a distinctive type of person” Abrams 20. Second, he defines character as “the persons, in a dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue-and what they do-the action”. So, character is the person in a narrative work with his or her traits or characteristics. Harvey 45-47 says that there are three categories of character. They are protagonist, background, and the intermediate figure characters. Protagonist character undergoes conflicts leading his attitudes along the story. Background character that can appear individually and collectively appears just necessarily to become the background for the protagonist character. Intermediate figure characters appear between protagonist and background characters that can become important in certain parts and sometimes less important in other parts.

2.1.2 Theory of Characterization

In order to know deeper about the character of the main character in a novel or story, we can perceive traits of character like what Murphy 161-173 says, there are nine ways of how an author may reveal the character’s personality PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI and traits to the readers. The first is personal description which means the author describes the character’s appearances directly. Second is the character as seen by another which means the author uses another character’s opinions to describe a character. It means that we can know the main character by understanding other character’s sayings or thoughts about himher in a novel. Third is speech which means that what a character says can give the reader some clues to hisher character. Fourth is past life which means the author gives a clue to characters’ past events that help reader to have picture about his character. It is clear that by knowing a character’s past lives, we can relate what the character did in past lives which often affects hisher future life. Fifth is conversation of others which means the conversation of other people and the things they say about a character can be a clue to the person’s characteristics. Sixth is reaction which means the author helps the readers to recognize a person’s character by describing how that person reacts to various situations and events. Seventh is direct comment which means the author gives a comment on a person’s characteristics directly. Eighth is thoughts which means the author can give his readers a direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. The last one is mannerism which means the author can tell his readers about the character’s characteristics from the character’s mannerism, habits and idiosyncrasies.

2.1.3 Theory of Critical Approaches