A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER : A study of focalization.
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
(A study of focalization)
A Research Paper
Submitted to English Education Department of FPBS UPI as partial fulfilment of the requirements for Sarjana Sastra degree
by Rindra Nuriza
0906115
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS EDUCATION INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
BANDUNG 2014
(2)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
Perkembangan Karakter Anak dalam
Novel Fiksi Realistis Anak
Wonder
Karya R.J. Palacio (Sebuah studi
tentang fokalisasi)
Oleh Rindra Nuriza
Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana Sastra pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni
© Rindra Nuriza 2014 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Juni 2014
Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.
Skripsi ini tidak boleh diperbanyak seluruhya atau sebagian, dengan dicetak ulang, difoto kopi, atau cara lainnya tanpa ijin dari penulis.
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Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu PAGE OF APPROVAL
RINDRA NURIZA
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT INR.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER (A study of
focalization) Approved by:
Supervisor I,
Bachrudin Musthafa, M.A., Ph.D. NIP. 195703101987031001
Supervisor II,
Nia Nafisah, M.Pd. NIP. 197104242006042001
Head of English Education Department Faculty of Languages and Arts Education
Indonesia University of Education
Prof. Dr. H. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed. NIP. 196211011987121001
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Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE OF APPROVAL ... Error! Bookmark not defined. STATEMENT OF AUTHORIZATION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. PREFACE ... Error! Bookmark not defined. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. ABSTRACT ... Error! Bookmark not defined. TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi LIST OF TABLES ... Error! Bookmark not defined. LIST OF FIGURES ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1 Background of the research ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 Research questions ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3 Aims of the research ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.4 Significance of the research... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.5 Clarification of terms ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.6 Organization of the paper ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1 The nature of children’s literature... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2 Contemporary children’s realistic fiction ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2.1 Characteristics of children’s realistic fictionError! Bookmark not defined. 2.2.2 Types of children’s realistic fiction ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3 Character and characterisation ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4 Character development ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.5 Narratology ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.5.1 Focalization ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.5.2 Narrative events ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.6 Previous research ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1 Object of the research ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
3.1.1 About the author ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.2 Synopsis of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2 Research method ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3 Context of the research ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.4 Data presentation ... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1 Findings ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.1 August’s character development ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.2 The contributions of the characters’ focalization to August’s character development... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.2.1 August’s developing character ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1.2.2 August’s developed character ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.2 Discussion ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2.1 A child’s character development in R.J. Palacio’s WonderError! Bookmark not defined.
4.2.2 The good qualities of children’s literature as reflected in R.J. Palacio’s children’s realistic fiction Wonder revisited... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONSError! Bookmark not defined. 5.1 Conclusions ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 5.2 Suggestions ... Error! Bookmark not defined. REFERENCES ... Error! Bookmark not defined. APPENDICES ... x A. August’s developing character... x B. August’s developed character ... xxi ABOUT THE WRITER
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Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter provides the description of how the research was conducted to answer the research questions: (1) In what ways is the main character in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder developed? (2) How does focalization contribute to the main
character’s development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder? Therefore, it covers the
explanation of object of the research, research method, context of the research and data presentation.
3.1 Object of the research
The research focuses on multiple characters’ focalization that indicates August character’s development—the main character in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). The novel consists of 316 pages and has been translated into eight languages. It is regarded as children’s realistic fiction, since it drops several hints of human’s abnormality, child’s self-importance and the issues of school. In line with that, it takes the idea of childhood in different perspective—utilizes a deformed child’s perspective in facing the problems of life, thereby inviting and encouraging the writer’s interest in analyzing the development of a child character.
3.1.1 About the author
Raquel Jaramillo Palacio is both an art director and a book jacket designer. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two sons. After more than 20 years being a graphic designer, she materialized the urge to write her debut novel—Wonder. Her son’s experience when encountering a kid with facial
deformity inspired her to put her ideas out into the novel. Apparently, being the author of a book which has ever been awarded #1 on The New York Times Bestseller, Texas Bluebonnet Award, Lunchs des Monats on lynx of the month by
Die Zeit Newspaper, Carnegie Medal in Literature Nominee, The Judy Lopez
(7)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
Middle Readers, and Waterstones Children's Book Prize made her the nominee for the TIME For Kids’ 2012 person of the year. After the book was successfully marketed, she made an anti-bullying program on her website (choosekind.tumblr.com) and then got thousands children’s supports to help end bullying.
3.1.2 Synopsis of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder
R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012) presents children’s
realistic fiction story concerning a kid, named August Pullman, who was born with a facial deformity struggling to convince the society that he is just as ordinary as other kids, regardless his appearance. The story starts when August is about to enter the fifth grade at the age of ten. Before that, he was being homeschooled because the anomaly on his face needed to be cared every time.
Throughout the fifth grade year, there are problems he has to deal with. At the beginning, other kids look at him as if he has a plague. Therefore, no kids want to befriend him. Moreover, he is often bullied by Julian’s gang, being mocked and jibed at his face. As the time goes by, there is a few kids gelling with August—especially Jack and Summer—after realizing that August is just the same as the kids in general. On the other hand, it does not stop August from getting trouble. There is a clash between August and Jack in the Halloween Day which makes August decide to quit school. Though, August and Jack reunite eventually. At the same time, Julian’s gang often plays tricks on them, since they know Jack has been being friend with August.
The story reaches climax when the fifth graders of Beecher Prep go camping at the end of the year. August encounters some students from another school who make fun of his face. Knowing this, some fifth graders, including Miles and Henry who used to be August’s rivals, support and fight for him. Meanwhile, August’s family who used to baby August all the time realizes that August does not want to be treated like he is still a baby.
After getting through lots of problems during the year, August learns the lesson from every event he has encountered which consequently evolves his
(8)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
personalities. Hence, in the end, he got a medal from the school awards for inspiring other people. His social life becomes different and everything is changed afterwards. The most important thing, August is then noticed for the way he is. 3.2 Research method
The research was guided by qualitative research design with descriptive analysis as a part of the method, since it was related to spoken and written language rather than numbers (Polkinghorne, 2005). More precisely, the research collected data in the form of written texts—the excerpts of characters’ focalization in the novel— which were consequently interpreted, elaborated and described for the evidential grounded data to base the findings—which were drawn dependent on a single writer’s interpretation—regarding the main character’s development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). In supporting this,
according to Airasian, Gay & Mills (2006), qualitative research allows the writer to collect data consisting large words (or text) to be described and analyzed related to their themes, and to conduct the inquiry in a subjective, biased manner. Therefore, qualitative research fits the research.
In line with that, as suggested by Hancock, Ockleford & Windridge (2009), the nature of qualitative research focuses on how people can have different perspectives towards reality or the real world contexts, which are reported through description or interpretation based on their accounts. Consequently, all findings within the research determine on whether the entire data have been clearly described or not (Alwasillah, 2000). For Creswell (2007), in order to clarify the data, the description of them should involve detailed rendering of information about people, places, or events in a setting, so that the readers know where the findings were derived. Besides, due to this matter of the research is concerning character’s development in a novel, it is hard to express the data numerically. Thus, the form of written text data could effectively be conducted as the primary ground to illustrate the findings.
To clearly describe the data in the present research, the writer arranged the description of textual evidences from the novel. In this context, the writer
(9)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
attempted to illustrate cause and effects of selective narrative events through characters’ focalization on the main character’s development. Furthermore, the description of data also denoted information regarding the kind of relationship between the main character and the others whereby affecting the main character to develop.
As a result, qualitative research design with descriptive analysis method was applied as the guiding to examine the data needed to answer the research questions. In the attempt to answer the research questions, intensive reading regarding related framework was conducted following these sequences adapted from Cresswell (2009):
a. Reading the whole novel carefully, in order to understand the overall story-line, major issues and general sense of the story.
b. Preparing for collecting the data analysis by re-reading the novel in detail, to gain more comprehensive understanding concerning the main character within the story and then taking memos about it.
c. Highlighting the key narrative events in the story in which they become the catalyst for changes in the main character’s personalities and attitudes, and specifically selecting multiple characters’ focalization that contribute to the main character’s development.
d. Identifying the data collection by engaging it with the frameworks and previous research that have been elaborated in Chapter II.
e. Generating the data analysis into narrative passage, by making elaboration and interpretation to draw the findings in connection with the theories applied.
f. Discussing the findings to draw the conclusion and giving some suggestions eventually.
3.3 Context of the research
The analysis of character’s development in the research was limited to the main character, August. Due to the analysis, the characters’ focalization in the form of words, such as dialogues, expression, thoughts and so forth were highlighted in
(10)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
relation to some narrative events in the story. Apparently, there are six characters whose focalization involved in the story: (1) August: the main character, (2) Via: August’s elder sister, (3) Summer: August’s friend at school, (4) Jack: August’s best friend at school, (5) Justin: Via’s boy friend, and (6) Miranda: Via’s old friend. In this regard, multiple focalization is specifically identified to give a clear picture of August’s changes in personalities and attitudes.
3.4 Data presentation
The following sample is the data analysis in the form of table concerning the gradual changes in August’s traits that can be noticed from the sequence of events. In this context, the cause and effect of what the characters focalize culminate in the development for August’s character.
3.1 Sample table of August’s character development
No. Narrative
Events Character(s) Focalization Cause
Effect on August’s traits
1. Pre-going to
school
August (10 years old, male, having an anomaly)
My name is August., by
the way. I won’t describe
what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. (p. 3)
Self-declaring
Suffering from low self-esteem
2. The beginning
of being a public school student Summer (August’s friend at school)
Anyone who accidentally touches August has only thirty seconds to wash their hands or find hand
sanitizer before they catch
the Plague. I’m not sure what happens to you if you actually catch the
Plague because nobody’s
touched August yet—not directly. (p. 120)
Being treated as a contagious person
Unpopular
(11)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
After discussing the findings and discussion, this chapter presents the conclusions
of the research which aimed at investigating the ways the main character’s developed and identifying the contributions of focalization to the main character’s
development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder. It also provides suggestions for readers
who might be interested in the same issues discussed in the research. 5.1 Conclusions
Due to examining research based on a novel, the writer collected data in the form of textual evidences, in particular, dialogues, conversations, actions, feelings and thoughts to analyze a child character’s development in contemporary realistic fiction.
In line with the first purpose of the research which is to unearth the ways the main character is developed, it can be concluded that the main character
developed through two ways: four narrative events and the characters’
focalization. Since narrative events refer to the transition from one condition to another that are experienced by characters, it leads to the process of the main
character’s development. In the beginning, August suffers from low self-esteem. As the narrative events go on, he changes to be more confident and even
honourable in other people’s eyes. In this way, August’s character undergoes the
betterment. The betterment is equally apparent from the characters’ focalization.
Since focalization refers to the character’s personal views, it helps explicating the
main character’s characterisation and ascribes information about key events that stimulate August to develop.
In regard with the second purpose of the research which is to find out the contributions of focalization to the main character’s development, based on the findings, the six characters’ focalization gives a clear picture about August’s life through different personal perceptions. Cognitive, perceptual and emotional aspects in focalization provide generous views towards August’s dynamic
(12)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
changes. Since Bal’s notions on focalization concerns relational effects between the agents who focalize and the focalized objects, the relationships between August and other characters essentially influence his development. As a result, they give a more comprehensive portrayal of August’s character development objectively.
It becomes apparent that the character development of a deformed child teaches children to value their life more and be tolerant with any child whose life is not as lucky as theirs. The fact that different views from people always interfere especially when children have particular problems of life, helps children accept
others’ opinions, and strengthens their tolerance in dealing with different types of people. At this point, the novel implies that a child’s character development is influenced by many factors: home and school, the relationships between family and peers, and other people’s opinions or judgments. That is to say, the
character’s development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder contributes to children’s
betterment. 5.2 Suggestions
Based on the writer’s experiences after conducting the research, here are some
suggestions for future research/researchers:
1. It is recommended for the researchers who intend to conduct research concerning children literature to explore other topics related to characters, but
in other genre or form. For instances, in picture books, children’s fantasy fiction, etc, since the research about children’s literature are still few in English Department.
2. With respect to the issue regarding character development, the next researchers
could make comparative analysis of the main character’s development in other
form of literature, for instance, between novel and movie. It may focus on
either children’s or adult’s characters.
3. Applying narrative theory in children’s literature is quite hard to apply, since narratology seems inadequate with specialized terms and complex concepts. Therefore, intensive reading and practicing to apply the theories into short
(13)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
stories’ or poems’ analyses before examining broader objects are really needed
(1)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
personalities. Hence, in the end, he got a medal from the school awards for inspiring other people. His social life becomes different and everything is changed afterwards. The most important thing, August is then noticed for the way he is. 3.2 Research method
The research was guided by qualitative research design with descriptive analysis as a part of the method, since it was related to spoken and written language rather than numbers (Polkinghorne, 2005). More precisely, the research collected data in the form of written texts—the excerpts of characters’ focalization in the novel— which were consequently interpreted, elaborated and described for the evidential grounded data to base the findings—which were drawn dependent on a single
writer’s interpretation—regarding the main character’s development in R.J.
Palacio’s Wonder (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). In supporting this, according to Airasian, Gay & Mills (2006), qualitative research allows the writer to collect data consisting large words (or text) to be described and analyzed related to their themes, and to conduct the inquiry in a subjective, biased manner. Therefore, qualitative research fits the research.
In line with that, as suggested by Hancock, Ockleford & Windridge (2009), the nature of qualitative research focuses on how people can have different perspectives towards reality or the real world contexts, which are reported through description or interpretation based on their accounts. Consequently, all findings within the research determine on whether the entire data have been clearly described or not (Alwasillah, 2000). For Creswell (2007), in order to clarify the data, the description of them should involve detailed rendering of information about people, places, or events in a setting, so that the readers know where the findings were derived. Besides, due to this matter of the research is concerning
character’s development in a novel, it is hard to express the data numerically.
Thus, the form of written text data could effectively be conducted as the primary ground to illustrate the findings.
To clearly describe the data in the present research, the writer arranged the description of textual evidences from the novel. In this context, the writer
(2)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
attempted to illustrate cause and effects of selective narrative events through
characters’ focalization on the main character’s development. Furthermore, the description of data also denoted information regarding the kind of relationship between the main character and the others whereby affecting the main character to develop.
As a result, qualitative research design with descriptive analysis method was applied as the guiding to examine the data needed to answer the research questions. In the attempt to answer the research questions, intensive reading regarding related framework was conducted following these sequences adapted from Cresswell (2009):
a. Reading the whole novel carefully, in order to understand the overall story-line, major issues and general sense of the story.
b. Preparing for collecting the data analysis by re-reading the novel in detail, to gain more comprehensive understanding concerning the main character within the story and then taking memos about it.
c. Highlighting the key narrative events in the story in which they become the
catalyst for changes in the main character’s personalities and attitudes, and specifically selecting multiple characters’ focalization that contribute to the main character’s development.
d. Identifying the data collection by engaging it with the frameworks and previous research that have been elaborated in Chapter II.
e. Generating the data analysis into narrative passage, by making elaboration and interpretation to draw the findings in connection with the theories applied.
f. Discussing the findings to draw the conclusion and giving some suggestions eventually.
3.3 Context of the research
The analysis of character’s development in the research was limited to the main
character, August. Due to the analysis, the characters’ focalization in the form of words, such as dialogues, expression, thoughts and so forth were highlighted in
(3)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
relation to some narrative events in the story. Apparently, there are six characters whose focalization involved in the story: (1) August: the main character, (2) Via:
August’s elder sister, (3) Summer: August’s friend at school, (4) Jack: August’s
best friend at school, (5) Justin: Via’s boy friend, and (6) Miranda: Via’s old friend. In this regard, multiple focalization is specifically identified to give a clear picture of August’s changes in personalities and attitudes.
3.4 Data presentation
The following sample is the data analysis in the form of table concerning the gradual changes in August’s traits that can be noticed from the sequence of events. In this context, the cause and effect of what the characters focalize
culminate in the development for August’s character.
3.1 Sample table of August’s character development No. Narrative
Events Character(s) Focalization Cause
Effect on August’s traits
1. Pre-going to school
August (10 years old, male, having an anomaly)
My name is August., by the way. I won’t describe
what I look like.
Whatever you’re
thinking, it’s probably worse. (p. 3)
Self-declaring
Suffering from low self-esteem
2. The beginning of being a public school student Summer (August’s friend at school)
Anyone who accidentally touches August has only thirty seconds to wash their hands or find hand
sanitizer before they catch
the Plague. I’m not sure
what happens to you if you actually catch the Plague because nobody’s
touched August yet—not directly. (p. 120)
Being treated as a contagious person
Unpopular
(4)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
After discussing the findings and discussion, this chapter presents the conclusions of the research which aimed at investigating the ways the main character’s
developed and identifying the contributions of focalization to the main character’s
development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder. It also provides suggestions for readers
who might be interested in the same issues discussed in the research. 5.1 Conclusions
Due to examining research based on a novel, the writer collected data in the form of textual evidences, in particular, dialogues, conversations, actions, feelings and thoughts to analyze a child character’s development in contemporary realistic fiction.
In line with the first purpose of the research which is to unearth the ways the main character is developed, it can be concluded that the main character developed through two ways: four narrative events and the characters’ focalization. Since narrative events refer to the transition from one condition to another that are experienced by characters, it leads to the process of the main
character’s development. In the beginning, August suffers from low self-esteem.
As the narrative events go on, he changes to be more confident and even honourable in other people’s eyes. In this way, August’s character undergoes the betterment. The betterment is equally apparent from the characters’ focalization.
Since focalization refers to the character’s personal views, it helps explicating the
main character’s characterisation and ascribes information about key events that
stimulate August to develop.
In regard with the second purpose of the research which is to find out the contributions of focalization to the main character’s development, based on the findings, the six characters’ focalization gives a clear picture about August’s life through different personal perceptions. Cognitive, perceptual and emotional aspects in focalization provide generous views towards August’s dynamic
(5)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
changes. Since Bal’s notions on focalization concerns relational effects between
the agents who focalize and the focalized objects, the relationships between August and other characters essentially influence his development. As a result, they give a more comprehensive portrayal of August’s character development objectively.
It becomes apparent that the character development of a deformed child teaches children to value their life more and be tolerant with any child whose life is not as lucky as theirs. The fact that different views from people always interfere especially when children have particular problems of life, helps children accept
others’ opinions, and strengthens their tolerance in dealing with different types of
people. At this point, the novel implies that a child’s character development is influenced by many factors: home and school, the relationships between family and peers, and other people’s opinions or judgments. That is to say, the
character’s development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder contributes to children’s
betterment. 5.2 Suggestions
Based on the writer’s experiences after conducting the research, here are some suggestions for future research/researchers:
1. It is recommended for the researchers who intend to conduct research concerning children literature to explore other topics related to characters, but in other genre or form. For instances, in picture books, children’s fantasy
fiction, etc, since the research about children’s literature are still few in English
Department.
2. With respect to the issue regarding character development, the next researchers could make comparative analysis of the main character’s development in other form of literature, for instance, between novel and movie. It may focus on either children’s or adult’s characters.
3. Applying narrative theory in children’s literature is quite hard to apply, since
narratology seems inadequate with specialized terms and complex concepts. Therefore, intensive reading and practicing to apply the theories into short
(6)
Rindra Nuriza, 2014
A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu
stories’ or poems’ analyses before examining broader objects are really needed to improve the analytical skills.