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D. Conceptual Framework
In this research, the New Criticism theory and Children‘s Literature
theory taken from several books such as Bessler and Lukens is used. The researcher use New Criticism theory and Children‘s Literature theory to
synchronize the same elements of literature which contains in the novel. These theories
are also used as the basic understanding of the elements of literature in the literary works.
Furthermore, to identify the themes, sub-themes, and types of themes in Bl
ume‘s Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, the reseacher employs Childrens‘ Literature theory by Rebecca J. Lukens. This concept is used to
analyse the elements of literature in novel.
It is considered as the appropriate concept because it can explain and gives the detail explanation about the elements of
literature. The conceptual map of the theories used in this research can be seen in figure 1 below. Meanwhile, the main theories and indicators used in conducting
this research are presented in the analytical construct in chapter III.
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FRAMEWORK OF THINKING
Figure 1 . Conceptual Framework
New Criticism Children‘s
Literature
Elements of literature: character, plot setting,
point of view, style
Themes: types of themes, kinds of theme
Kinds of themes: coming of age, religion,
parenthood, family, friendship, identity,
individual and society Types of themes:
explicit, implicit
Themes: sub-themes, types of themes and sub-
themes
Analysis of themes and sub-themes in the novel Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume:
1. What are the main themes and the sub-themes of Blume‘s
novel Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret?
2. How are types of themes and sub-themes embodied in
Blume‘s novel Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret?
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
This research employed the descriptive-qualitative method, because tit emphasized on describing the phenomenon of the use of language in its context by
inerpreting the data. As stated by Vanderstoep and Johnston 2009: 166-167, a qualitative research is a research that
is based on people‘s interpretation of their own experience. Related to its purpose, the qualitative research is more about how
to make description than prediction of the data. That is why a depth understanding of researcher‘s point of view is the goal of this research design.
Hancock 2002: 2 states that a qualitative research is a type of research that tries to seek for the answers of several questions which start with: why? how?
and in what way?. The objects of content analysis approach become clear whether it written or verbal texts, for example: books, essays, interviews, informal
communication and any form of communicative language. It is also clear that this approach is aimed at identifying and making inferences of the text. In other
words, the goal of this approach is to reveal the meaning of the text itself. The method used in this research was qualitative content analysis since the
data are nonnumeric. The data taken for this research are used to show the themes, sub-themes, and the types of themes also to find out the themes contributions to
children development. Thus, the analysis of the data the identification and
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