Edition mentions that moral is “relating to, dealing with or capable of making the distinction between right or wrong in conduct” 1983:1168.
According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, the word lesson signifies “something that provides experience or information that you can learn
from and use” 2004:924. From the definitions above, the term moral lessons simply means a good
action done by someone in a society that can be learned from and use as an example for other people to follow.
2. Alienated Characters
Allan G. Johnson explains what the term of alienation means. He defines alienation as a condition of being isolated and lonely in a modern society, where
production and result are more valued than joy and pleasure 1986:238. Abrams defines that characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or
narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities from what they are saying and what they
are doing 1999:32-33. In summary, it can be concluded that alienated characters can have meaning
the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work who are being isolated and lonely in a modern society, where joy and pleasure are extremely unappreciated.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
Criticisms linger on every single literary work. These discussions about certain works of art, including literatures are important, since some critics might
provide different paradigms about the same literary work, or some literary works done by the same author. In this part, the writer is going to encounter some of
critics’ thoughts about Mitch Albom’s The Time Keeper. The Time Keeper is a fictional novel about the relation between human beings
and time. The novel consists of fable passages which mainly show the characters’ point of view about the time they are having in their lives, and how this point of
views affect them in facing the time which is “running”. Dor, the Father Time, who was determined to count time, is banished to the present day, asked by the Creator
of time to teach two characters—alienated because of their paradigm about time, the true meanings of time.
Mitch Albom is indeed a writer who often put his daily life events into meaningful work of literature. The Time Keeper and his previous novel, Tuesday
with Morrie, are the great examples of this. As with his previous writings, such as The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom’s
The Time Keeper talks about life and death, and life’s greatest lessons through its fictional characters. Some writers have done their undergraduate thesis, discussing
this matter. Cynthia Laurensia 2014:xi, in her thesis, discussed about a character’s—Sarah Lemon, self-concept as an adolescent in Mitch Albom’s The
Time Keeper, which illustrates her struggles to face life, and how finally she decides to shorten her life by committing suicide. This shows how time on earth is
appreciated and how this point of view of time might finally show some life’s moral lessons. In this thesis, she points out that society has a big role to someone in
judging the quality of themselves. Indifferent from some of his previous works, in The Time Keeper discussed by Cynthia, Mitch Albom writes about the concept of
death which is encountered by a specific character because she feels inferior and different from her surroundings.
Alisa Widya Mutiara 2005:ix wrote about moral lessons on death and love which is reflected in Morrie’s characterization in Albom’s Tuesday with Morrie. In
her thesis, she shows how Morrie is characterized in the novel to let readers know every detail about him. She also points out some moral lessons Mitch Albom
learned after he talked to his old professor in some consecutive Tuesdays. Different from one in Cynthia’s writing, death discussed by Alisa is affected by Morrie’s
views about Buddhist teachings, that death is a part of life’s circle, and that a person should not be afraid to die once they understand this concept. Morrie, according to
this thesis, also learned about some life’s important lessons which he did after finding out that he was dying.
In line with all negative and positive reviews about Mitch Albom’s The Time Keeper, the writer agrees that most Albom’s literary works are closely related to
realistic life events, which often teach people about the lessons to learn. However,
