7 revealed by his words, thoughts, and actions. It really helps the writer to interpret
what is on Caroline’s mind when she takes her decision to take care of Phoebe.
2. Character and Characterization
Character is one of the components, which has important role in literary works. Through character, a literary work gets its image from the participation of
each character. Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work,
who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the
persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it—the dialogue—and from what they do—the action. Abrams, 1999, p. 33-34
Character is needed to be the subject of the literary work. In this case, novel is one of the literary works, which puts character to lead the story. Character gives very
big influence in constructing reader’s view of the story in the novel. Klarer 1999 noted, “The individualization of a character, however, has evolved into a main
feature of the genre of the novel” p. 19. Each character has its own way in making the story alive, even though there are major and minor characters. The
author must have reliable reasons why character is put into the story. To get to know further about the character itself, Eastman 1965 divides
types of characters into flat and round character. The flat character is a type, which is consistent. This character avoids to make some problems in his
surroundings. “He is unlikely to engage in inner conflict. Therefore he is not likely to change ; he is static; his responses are predictable p. 18.”
It is the opposite with round character, which is likely to change into someone different. The round or complex character tends to change his
8 behavior. “His desires and values are likely to pull in different directions. Because
he is in tension, he is also dynamic: capable of new kinds of behavior under new strains” p. 18.
Klarer 1999 agrees with this theory of characters. In his book An Introduction to Literary Studies, he states both typified character flat and
individual character round. The typified character is dominated by one specific trait. Otherwise, the individual character denotes a personal with more complex
and differential features p. 17. The figures in a literary text can either be characterized as types or
individuals. Klarer 1999 states that characters can be rendered into showing and telling as two different method of presentation. First, it is explanatory
characterization telling which describes a person through a narrator. In telling method, the author describes clearly about the character further by using words,
for example: She is calm and well mannered. The reader easily knows the characteristics of the character by reading what are printed in the narration.
Second, it is dramatic characterization showing which does away with the position of an obvious narrator, thus avoiding any overt influence on the
reader by a narrative mediator p. 19. In this method, the reader can freely guess what lies behind all of the actions and dialogs showed by the characters in the
novel. A character is often described as the character in terms of character traits.
This character traits commonly use the descriptive adjectives that tell the specific
