studies and it also develops other studies because there is no analysis of the main character’s struggle in showing her existence in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger
Games yet.
B. Review of Related Theories
This part will discuss about the theories that will be used to analyze the problem formulations in this study.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Character, according to M. H. Abrams, is “a person presented in a
dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional equalities that are expressed in what they
say-the dialogue-and what they do-the action 1985:23”. According to Richard Gill “a character is a person in a literary work.
Characters in books may have all sorts of links with the people we meet every day but we only meet them in books. Characters are what they are like because of the
way they’ve been made. The kind of conversations they have, the things they do, their appearances and so on are the particular ways in which the author has chosen
to characterize his or her characters 1995:127”. Gill also stated in his book that the novelist E. M. Foster distinguished
between what he called flat characters and round characters. What he has in mind here is the degree of fullness a character possesses; a flat character also called a
type, or “two-dimensional” has few characteristics, while a round character has several 1995:130.
Roger B. Henkle divides characters into major character and minor characters. Major characters are those people or characters whom we observe
most often in the novel, whose appearances are frequent 1977:97. Whereas the minor characters, being generally less complex, or less intense, and drawn in
shallower relief, present what is often only one side of the experience 1977:97. In Richard Gill’s book states that “characterisation is the way in which a
character is created 1995:127”. Whereas M. J. Murphy, he explained nine ways in which an author
attempts to make the characters understandable and come alive: a. Personal description
The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes, such as: the telling details, the face, skin, and eyes.
b. Character as seen by another Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe him
through the eyes and opinions of another. c. Speech
The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons in the book through what that person says. Whenever a person speaks,
whenever he is in conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving us some clue to his character.
d. Past life By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life the author
can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character.
