Semiotic Analysis of The Covers of 'The Chronicles of Narnia'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini, saya menganalisis halaman depan novel The Chronicles of Narnia, yang terdiri atas The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, The Last Battle. Saya berpendapat bahwa halaman depan sebuah novel sangat penting dalam menginformasikan garis besar cerita novel. Teori yang saya gunakan adalah teori semiotik dari Charles Sanders Peirce, yaitu triadic model theory dan relativity theory.

Dalam hasil penelitian ini, saya menemukan bahwa halaman depan novel memegang peranan yang penting dalam menyampaikan garis besar cerita. Saya menemukan bahwa gambar, warna dominan dan judul harus menarik dan memiliki arti. Selain itu juga saya menemukan penggunaan sejumlah hewan dalam mitologi Yunani. Di samping itu, saya juga menemukan bahwa penggunaan ekspresi wajah dan gerakan tubuh dapat menunjang elemen cerita.

Saya menyimpulkan bahwa ada tiga hal penting yang harus dipertimbangkan dalam membuat halaman depan novel yang baik, Ketiga hal tersebut adalah gambar, judul, dan warna dominan. Untuk para peneliti semiotik selanjutnya, saya menyarankan untuk membaca buku-buku dari

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Maranatha Christian University cabang ilmu pengetahuan lain karena semiotik berkaitan dengan banyak cabang ilmu pengetahuan.

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Maranatha Christian University

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………... i

TABLE OF CONTENTS …...………. ii

ABSTRACT ……… iii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study ……….

Statement of the Problem ……… Purpose of the Study………... Methods of Research ……….. Organization of the Thesis ………..

1 4 4 4 5

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ……….. 6

CHAPTER THREE: SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF

THE COVER OF THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA ……….. 10

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ………... 50

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………. 54

APPENDICES:

The cover of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ………... The cover of Prince Caspian ………. The cover of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader……….... The cover of The Silver Chair ………... The cover of The Horse and His Boy ……… The cover of The Magician’s Nephew……….. The cover of The Last Battle ……….

56 56 57 57 58 58 59

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APPENDIX

Data 1 : The cover of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

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Data 3: The Cover of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

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Data 5 : The Cover of The Horse and His Boy

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1 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Language is very crucial in our daily life. We use language to communicate our ideas, thoughts and feelings. There are two kinds of communication models: verbal and non-verbal communication. I would like to elaborate more about the verbal and non-verbal communication in the following paragraph.

Verbal communication refers to the words used to deliver a message appropriately with the situation and the person we are communicating (Jewell 110). The non-verbal communication can be divided into two kinds: the vocal and visual communication. The vocal communication is also referred to as ‘para -language’ (Jewell 110). It deals more with the voice rather than with the words (Jewell 110). As a result, it involves tone, pitch, fluency, volume, speed, pauses, accent (Jewell 110), whereas the visual communication is sometimes called ‘body language’(Jewell, 111). It involves facial expressions, eye contact, physical proximity and contact, gestures, postures, appearance (Jewell 111).

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2 Maranatha Christian University In the cover of a novel, there is a combination of the verbal and non-verbal elements. The title in the cover must contain words to inform the reader about the main story. Therefore, the use of verbal communication can be seen in the choice of words in the title. In the pictures, we can see movement, body position and facial expression of the characters in a novel. Besides, the setting of place is also described by the pictures. The use of non-verbal communication can be observed in the pictures.

This thesis concerns with one of the ways people express ideas, which is through novel. In a novel, the writers try to express his or her ideas in the content of the novel. However, readers are usually attracted to read novels after they observe the covers of the novels. Thus, it would be better if a novel has a cover which describes the gist of the story. Yet, in reality, novel covers do not always give readers enough information about the content of the novel. Sometimes the readers find the covers of the novels have no relation at all with the content. Therefore, I would like to discuss the relationship between the titles and the meanings of the pictures in the cover which describes the content of the novel in this thesis by using semiotic theories. The title of my thesis is Semiotic Analysis of the Covers of The Chronicles of Narnia.

The significance of this topic is that it will enable readers in general to understand hidden messages from pictures. Specifically, for the novel readers, the analysis will help them to understand the main essence of the story briefly before deciding to read the novels. For the students in the English Department, especially those who specialize in literature, because

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3 Maranatha Christian University they are dealing with a lot of novels, this study will help them to understand the main story of the novels just by observing the cover. For novel publishers, the study will enable them to get some ideas to be more communicative with the readers in creating novel covers so as to inform the main story of the novels and hopefully it will affect the selling of their books.

The research in this thesis deals with semiotics, which is part of linguistics. Semiotics deals with signs. The covers of the novels contain a lot of signs, which are the pictures, the dominant colors and the titles. Thus, the use of semiotic theories is important in this research.

There are two prominent figures in Semiotics. They are Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce. The specific and main theories I use in this research are the theories by Charles Sanders Peirce. The reason why I use Peirciean theory is because applying his theory enables me to analyze the data more deeply. Peirciean theories include triadic model and relativity theory. Triadic model derives from representamen which is the sign vehicle; interpretant, which is the meaning; and object, which is the referent (Chandler 32). Relativity theory consists of icon, symbol, and index. The data I use in this research are the covers of seven fantasy novels from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, in which the titles are The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, and The Last Battle. The reason why I choose fantasy novel is because the covers of the novels contain various semiotic elements such as the pictures

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4 Maranatha Christian University which are the mixture between reality and imaginary world, the dominant colors and the titles which have special meaning related to the whole pictures in the covers.

Words : 759 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. What semiotic elements are found in the covers of the fantasy novels ? 2. How do the semiotic elements found in the covers relate to the stories?

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To find semiotic elements in the covers of the fantasy novels.

2. To investigate the relationship between the semiotic elements found in the covers and the stories.

1.4 METHODS OF RESEARCH

In doing this study, I did a library research and browsed the Internet to find the semiotic theories. The covers of the novels I use as the data in this thesis were acquired from Google. Having got the data, I began to analyze the covers of the novels. After analyzing it, I read the whole novels to match my analysis with the stories of the novels. In the end, I wrote the research report.

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of

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5 Maranatha Christian University the Problems, Purpose of the Study, Methods of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is the Theoretical Framework, which consists of the theories used to analyze the data. Chapter Three is the Semiotic Analysis of the Covers of The Chronicles of Narnia. The conclusion will be drawn in Chapter Four, in which give my opinion and comments on the findings. This thesis ends with the Bibliography and Appendix which consists of the pictures of the covers of

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50 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

After analyzing all the data, I would like to draw some conclusions. This chapter contains the findings I have gained and my comments on them. I would like to elaborate them more in the subsequent paragraphs. The first finding is that all the dominant colors in each cover are closely related to the content of the novel. Almost in all the covers, the dominant colors accord with nature. This can be seen in the blue color for the sky in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the blue color for the sea in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the brown color for the sand and the yellow color for the sun in The Horse and His Boy, and the green color for the forest in The Magician’s Nephew, In my opinion, the use of these colors helps the readers a lot in understanding the situation of the story. The use of the symbolical color like purple for a kingdom as in Prince Caspian and The Silver Chair is also good although not all readers might be able to understand this interpretation. Thus, it would be better to use common colors because the readers have already been familiar with them.

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51 Maranatha Christian University The second finding is that some of the pictures involve mythologies and cultures from Jew, Greece and Roman. The use of this kind of pictures can be seen in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. The clothes that are worn by the people and the strange creatures in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are often found in Greek and Roman mythologies. In Prince Caspian, the use of a horn in a war can also be seen in a Jewish tradition. The use of a dragon in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader involves Greek culture. The existence of a serpent in The Silver Chair involves Greek culture. In The Last Battle, the existence of a unicorn involves Greek mythology.

The third finding is that in every cover there must be one main setting of place. It is impossible for the illustrator to include all the places in the story, especially when it is an adventurous story. The main setting of place is important because it supports the story itself and it can also help the readers to focus on imagining that place while reading the novels. The fourth finding is that in almost all the covers there is a close connection between the titles and the pictures. Almost all of the covers of Narnia novels are consistent in describing the titles. There is only one novel entitled The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which misses the wardrobe picture. This is interesting to notice as the absence of that element in the title may lead to the readers’ curiosity.

The fifth finding is that the position of the pictures helps the readers to understand the main story. This can be observed very clearly in The

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52 Maranatha Christian University Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In this cover, the position of the woman which is at the top of the cover helps the readers to imagine that the woman must have power over the kingdom. The cover of The Silver Chair also shows this very clearly. In this cover, the position of the serpent which is trying to prey on the prince, symbolized by the chair, can lead the readers to think that the serpent must be the evil one.

In my opinion, the position of the pictures is important. It does not matter if there is only one prominent figure in the story. However, things will be different if there are two or more prominent figures. Their position can help the readers to understand their relationship with each other.

The next finding is that there is one same picture in every Narnia novel. That picture is the lion. I think this is good because this will help to signal that this is a series of novels. Besides, this also will make the readers think that the lion must be the most important character in the novel.

The last finding I get is that the facial expressions and the body posture can help to create a certain atmosphere to and provide information about the main story. The most obvious facial expression can be seen in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe cover. The witch’s eyes make it clear that she is evil. The body posture can be observed in the cover of The Horse and His Boy. The boy’s posture indicates that he is searching for something. This is the same as the picture of the man in The Magician’s Nephew, in which the man’s posture shows he is ready to enter the forest. In my opinion, this is also important because without the facial expressions

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53 Maranatha Christian University and body posture, we will lose the characteristics of the characters in the novels and the main thing that he or she does.

There are seven novel covers in this series. Almost all of them are good. The cover of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the only novel cover which is not as good as the other six because it misses the picture of the wardrobe. The other six novel covers are good. The pictures, the dominant colors and the title in each cover are good representatives of the story.

Thus, I can conclude that there are three important elements in creating a good cover of a novel. They are the title, pictures and dominant colors. It is a challenge for a novel publisher to create a communicative and

creative cover in order to be able to attract the readers’ attention to buy the novels.

In addition, I have some suggestions for other semiotic researchers. The first one is related to the cover. Not all covers are good or representative. We have to be able to choose the cover which contains pictures that can create a unity and support the main story. Furthermore, as semiotics is a multi-disciplinary subject which involves many science branches, those doing a semiotic research should read many books from various subjects so as to make a thorough semiotic analysis.

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54 Maranatha Christian University

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Brewer, E.C. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2001

Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics: the Basics. London: Routledge, 2004.

Chijiwa, Hideaki. Color Harmony : A Guide To Creative Color Combination. United States of America : Rockport Publisher, Inc., 1987.

Eco, Umberto. Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Hampshire : The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1985.

Jewell, Judith. Brain Fitness @ Work. London : Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 2003.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2005.

Saussure, Ferdinand de. Course in General Linguistics. Trans. Roy Harris. London : Duckworth, 1916-1983.

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55 Maranatha Christian University Websites

http://bookjourney.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/the-lion.jpg. 26 February 2009.

http://www.bookforthefuture.org/files/amazon_images/0064471055.jpg. 26 February 2009.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/00022400.jpg. 26 February 2009.

http://blondierocket.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/narnia_the_silver_chair.jpg. 26 February 2009.

http://a5.vox.com/6a00f48ce73d52000300fad6b4996d0005-500pi. 26 February, 2009.

http://pagesingold.com/the_magicians_nephew.jpg. 26 February 2009.

http://a2.vox.com/6a00cdf7e37f6d094f00e398bc5d120005-500pi. 26 February 2009.

Davidson, Richard M. “Blow The Ram’s Horn in Zion!” 22 March 2010

<http://www.thesourcehh.org/pdf/Contributors%20Documents/Richard%20 Davidson/Blow_The_Rams_Horn.pdf.>

Karlsen, Kathleen, “The Meaning of Unicorns: Greek, Chinese, Christian”, 10 February 2010 <http://www.livingartoriginals.com>

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50 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

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51 Maranatha Christian University

The second finding is that some of the pictures involve mythologies and cultures from Jew, Greece and Roman. The use of this kind of pictures can be seen in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. The clothes that are worn by the people and the strange creatures in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are often found in Greek and Roman mythologies. In Prince Caspian, the use of a horn in a war can also be seen in a Jewish tradition. The use of a dragon in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader involves Greek culture. The existence of a serpent in The Silver Chair involves Greek culture. In The Last Battle, the existence of a unicorn involves Greek mythology.

The fifth finding is that the position of the pictures helps the readers to understand the main story. This can be observed very clearly in The

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52 Maranatha Christian University

Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In this cover, the position of the woman which is at the top of the cover helps the readers to imagine that the woman must have power over the kingdom. The cover of The Silver Chair also shows this very clearly. In this cover, the position of the serpent which is trying to prey on the prince, symbolized by the chair, can lead the readers to think that the serpent must be the evil one.

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53 Maranatha Christian University

and body posture, we will lose the characteristics of the characters in the novels and the main thing that he or she does.