Definition of Terms INTRODUCTION

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Conflict

Conflict is one of the intrinsic elements in a literary work that always exits in everyday life. It can bring the satisfaction of the reader in reading a literary work. Every writer should concern how to make a story keep moving. This movement is commonly come up with the resolution of conflict. Conflict can occur when there is “a clash between characters, between a character and his environment, within himself, a clash of forces in the universe, even a struggle for meaning on the part of the reader ” Beaty, 1973: 604. Conflict grabs readers’ interests to take a part of the story. Hugh Holman and William Harmon in A Handbook to Literature 1986: 107-108 state that conflict is a struggle within a plot which grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces. A struggle against another person, a struggle against society, a struggle against nature, a struggle for mastery by two elements with the person, and the struggle against fate or destiny are 4 different classifications of conflict and one additional possibility of conflict. Not only does conflict imply the struggle between a protagonist against someone or something, but also it implies the existence of some motivation for the conflict or some aims to be achieved thereby. Robert Stanton in his An Introduction to Fiction 1964: 16 states that every conflict in a literary work can be distinguished into two: internal conflict and external conflict. Both conflicts can be in turn subordinate to the central conflict. It is indeed always between fundamental and contrasting qualities or forces, such as honesty and hypocrisy, innocence and experience, individuality and the pressure to conform. There are two other fundamental types of conflict stated by Maciver and Charles H. Page in Society: An Introductory Analysis: direct and indirect conflict. Conflict which occurs when individual or groups thwart or impede or restrain or injure or destroy one another in the effort to obtain some goals is classified as direct conflict. On the other hand, conflict which occurs when individuals or groups do not actually impede the efforts of one another but nevertheless seek to obtain their ends in ways which obstruct the attainment of the same ends by others belongs to indirect conflict. 1950: 64

2. Theory of Gossip

The anthrop ologist Gary Fine argues that gossip is a “form of discourse between persons discussing the behaviour, character, situation, or attributes of absent others” 1997: 422. The absence of others gives more possibility for people to talk about them rather than the one who is presence. In Gossip and Scandal, as quoted by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern in Witchcraft, Sorcery, Rummors, and Gossip 2004: 30-35, Max Gluckman states that gossip contributes to the unity of the group. It can control “aspiring individuals and make possible the selection of leaders without embarrassment. “Nevertheless, gossip somewhat can be manipulated by the powerful against others. A bit different from Gluckman, Robert Paine in An Alternative Hypothesis sees gossip as being made by individuals to forward and