Theory of Character Review of Related Theories

Murphy, in Understanding Unseen, it suggests similar ideas except the weather that is suggested earlier by Kennedy and Gioia. Those are three points that need to be concerned in order to understand setting of a story. There are time, place and atmosphere as below, a. Time Murphy classifies setting of time into four. First, present time, the author writes the literary work based on surrounding event. Second, past time, is to go backwards in time. It mostly used to tell historical events. Third, future time is to take readers with the author imagination into the future. The last, no specific time, is the moment that the author doesn’t give a specific indication of time in occurrence of events 1972: 143 – 145. b. Place Based on Murphy, the author assigns three kind of setting of place. First, the author uses familiar setting of place to the readers. The second, the author uses unfamiliar setting of place to the readers. The last, the author uses imaginary setting of place that no one familiar at all.1972: 145. c. Atmosphere Atmosphere is a general feeling that is conveyed to the readers. The atmosphere could be the breath or mood of the characters. The atmosphere is abstract. Atmosphere covers the story. The readers indicate the novel’s atmosphere by feeling sorrow, happy, evil, optimistic, and so on after reading the novel 1972: 146.

4. Theory of theme

Perrine, in Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense, defines the theme as controlling or the central idea of a fiction. It describes the life generalization that is stated and implied by the story. It means that the author tries to present that the theme is the idea of a story. The theme will happen when the author tries to explain the truth of life and to introduce a certain concept of life 1974: 49. There are some principles to be considered when a theme is to be stated: a. The theme must be stated in a statement form and concern with the subject and predicate. b. The theme must be a generalization about life. To define the theme, the use of character’s name must be avoidable in order to lead into specific statement. c. The generalization of the theme should not be larger that is justified by the term of the story. The use of terms like some and sometimes are more preferable than term like every, all, and always. d. Theme is the central and unifying concept of the story. So the theme must be related to something that exists inside the story. e. There is no one way of stating the theme of a story. f. The theme should not be expressed in familiar expression or sentences because it will make essential meaning of the story not conveyed 1974: 107-109. Aside of Perrine, Kenney’s How to Analyze Fiction, he states theme is the total meaning discovered by the writer in the process of writing and by the reader