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participate. Under such conditions the most common way of avoiding possible loss is the use of excuses. The individual may point out that he is out of condition,
unpracticed, or fatigued or is not trying because the skills is not important to him. These defensive behaviors are used to protect the self-estimate, but then the person
himself has to believe them. When the primary function of the excuses is to prevent a loss in social value, the problem is to persuade the audience to believe them.
When someone is facing failure, it‟s easy for them to get discouraged and to give up on their goals in life. People have to learn from failure in order to gain
success in life. Rachel states that people have to find benefit in every bad experience. Grasp the positive effects of negative incidents. Every dream that people achieve
comes from attention to a process. The process of success comes from repeated failure www.frumi.comimagesuploadsFailingForward2008.pdf.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
In analyzing the novel, some theories are applied. The theories are the theory of character, the theory of characterization, the theory of motivation, the theory of
goals in somebody life, the theory of career and the theory of failure. The theory of character is used to find out whether Wilhelm is a flat or a
round character. Meanwhile, the theory of characterization is used to analyse the description of Wilhelm‟s character. The characteristics of Tommy Wilhelm can be
identified from his speech, conversation of others, reaction, character as seen by another, direct comments and thoughts.
The theory of motivation is used to determine the possible motivations behind the act of the main character. Maslow gives description about hierarchy of needs that
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can be grouped in categories. These theories are used in supporting the answering of the second question in problem formulation.
The theory of goals in life is used to describe Wilhelm‟s reason in behaving in a certain way namely following his intuition to move to California and try to make his
dream to be an actor even he has to drop out from his school and against his parent warning.
The theory of career is used as the reference in interpreting or analyzing the problems formulated in this study. It is used to analyze whether Wilhelm
‟s character is affecting his failure in his career.
The theory of failure is used to describe Wilhelm‟s failure in his life. In the novel, Wilhelm is described as a man who is drowning. Every decision he made in his
life is always ended in regret. He is unemployed because he always fails to keep his job wherever he works. Wilhelm also has strained relationship with his father and his
family. It can be said that Wilhelm ‟s failure is a burdens of a modern man.
Nevertheless, it can be happened in our daily life.
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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
There are three parts that are discussed in this chapter, namely: object of the study, approach of the study, and method of the study. Object of the study gives
physical description of the novel and a brief summary on what the story is about. Approach of the study presents the approaches employed in this study. Method of the
study describes what kind of research that is used in this study, what sources are used, and the steps taken in analyzing the novel.
3.1 Object of the Study
The novel that is discussed in this study is entitled Seize the Day. This novel was written by Saul Bellow in 1950 and published in 1956 by Avon Books. It
consists of seven chapters in one hundred and twenty eight pages. Seize the Day
is Bellows fourth novel and is considered as one of the best novels he ever wrote. Bellow, who was born in Lachine, Quebec, a suburb of
Montreal, in 1915, wrote several other novels namely Dangling Man 1944, The Victim 1947, The Adventures of Augie March 1953, Henderson The Rain King
1959, Herzog 1964, Mosbys Memoirs and Other Stories 1968, Mr. Sammlers Planet 1970 and Humboldts Gift 1975.
Seize the Day is a story about the life of an American man named Tommy
Wilhelm who finds himself of being stuck in depressing situations. He feels so tired because he has to deal with failure in whole of his life. Wilhelm
‟s first failure happens when he is still a student. Wilhelm tells his parents about his plans to move
to California, trying to realize his dream of being an actor. However, his plan is
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