Looking at the previous studies, this thesis tries to use stylistic method to analyze a literary work, Paradise in particular. The linguistic features used in this
thesis are analyzed by using SFG such as the transitivity system, the mood and modality system, and the appraisals comment adjuncts. Furthermore, if some
previous studies analyze Paradise or even conduct psychological analysis towards the characters using the perspective of literature, this thesis focuses on the
linguistic features mentioned as the tools to investigate the psychological condition of the characters selected, whether to support or to challenge.
2.8 Theoretical Framework
This research is conducted in somewhat different ways in those previous studies. It employs a stylistic study that uses the linguistic features such as the
transitivity, the mood and modality system, and the appraisals to analyze the literary text which focuses only in the omniscient mode of the narrator. The use of
those linguistic features to analyze the inner presentation of the characters is based on the concept that language expresses judgments and attitudes and that language
represents experience. Due to the concern of this research, each analysis of linguistic feature has its
own significance. The mood and modality system and the appraisals will show the judgments and the attitudes of the character reflected. In addition, the transitivity
system will demonstrate what the characters senses, feel and think. The analyses of the types and the participants of the process will reveal the experiences of the
characters, in this case, the experiences expressed through the mental of the characters. Then the analyses of those systems in relation with the thought
presentation techniques will reveal the purposes of particular pattern of the thought presentations in the development of the omniscient narrator.
The theories of the modality system and the appraisals are employed in this research to seek for how the characters judge and evaluate something. See the
example below which is taken from the data in scene 2. Bennie was smart; she never left anywhere without a dripping box of
food. Mavis felt her stupidity close in on her head like a dry sack. A grown woman who could not cross the country. Could not make a
plan that accommodated more than twenty minutes. Had to be taught how to dry herself in the weeds. Too rattle-minded to open a car’s
window so babies could breathe. Morrison, 1998: 37
The declarative mood in the example above is used to compare between Mavis’s evaluation toward herself and the other character, Bennie, and the theory of the
modality can help to reveal Mavis’s attitude. For example, with the low usuality with objective orientation never for Bennie, it supports her positive judgment to
the other character. In contrast, by employing passive high obligation had to be taught
, it indicates that she gives negative judgment for herself. Moreover, since the theory of the appraisals and comment adjuncts is
actually part of the interpersonal meaning analysis, it also reveals the attitude of the narrators. The example above contains some words that express the attitude of
the character such as smart, stupidity, could not, and rattle-minded. The analysis of the appraisals shows the similar result. Mavis thinks that she is incapable -
cap, yet the other character is capable +cap. Then the theory of the transitivity system as has been elaborated previously
is used to analyze how the characters experience the world. Thus, by analyzing the participants of the processes, the experience in the mind of the characters can be
presented. The processes in the example above are material process, relational
process, and mental process. By analyzing the participants involved in those processes, Mavis uses those process to evaluate or talk about herself and the other
character where the evaluation can be seen in the analysis of the interpersonal meaning.
Last, the theory of the thought presentations will help to identify the types of the thought presentation and illustrate the purpose of particular thought
presentation. For example, the quoted scene above is dominated by the presence of FIT with only one phenomenal as phenomenon where the phenomenal as the
phenomenon occurs to narrate the brief idea, while the FIT supports it. It can be seen from the evaluation about Mavis. The clause she felt her stupidity close in on
her head like a dry sack is the phenomenal as the phenomenon, and the clauses
following it is the FIT that support her negative judgment.
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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
