Last, NRTA is the device where narrators can give comments or enter the mind of the characters even to the inaccessible mind. In some cases, it shows the
blend of the cognition with the emotive side of the characters. As stated by Black 2006, 141, “It is a very flexible device which allows the juxtaposition of the
character’s thoughts with narratorial comment.” It can also be combined with other type of thought presentation. The example below, which is taken from
Conrad’s The Secret Agent is used by Black 2006 He could say nothing; for the tenderness to all pain and all misery, the
desire to make the horse happy and the cabman happy, had reached the point of a bizarre longing to take them to bed with him. And that,
he knew, was impossible. For Stevie was not mad. It was, as it were, a symbolic longing . . . Conrad, 1907: 139
According to Black 2006, here, the narrator gives comments bizarre longing to the mind of the character.
2.7 Related Studies
Some stylistic studies on either poems or fictions have been conducted before. The following example is the stylistic study of the poem by Sylvia Plath.
Forough Hassanpour and Ruzy Suliza Hashim 2012 have done the stylistic study titled An Angry Language: A Stylistic Study of the Images of Men in the Sylvia
Plath’s “Daddy” . This study carries the Systemic Functional Linguistic SFL,
known also as Systemic Functional Grammar SFG to analyze the images of men in the poem Daddy. They conclude that the poem shows men as active characters
and women as passive characters, the domination of men toward women, and the violation of men.
…male personas are almost doer and behaver, doing a violent and cruel action on women. By contrast, the female persona is mostly
associated with mental processes such as “feeling”, “imagining” and “wishing” and in case of doing an action, she is the unfulfilled doer
who wants to exact revenge, but does not have the agency to fulfil her revenge Hassanpour and Hashim, 2012: 128.
Although this study also employs SFG as the tool, it can come to different conclusion with this thesis because of different processes, participants, and
features of SFG. Another stylistic study is from Bing Sun 2011 titled The Clash between
the Desire and the Real World—A Stylistic Analysis of the Short Story “Theft” .
This research takes a short story from Katherine Anne Porter as the object. Different from this thesis, the researcher uses multi approaches in linguistics such
as conversational implicatures, symbolism, parallelistic structures, and the transitivity of material and mental process. She reveals that the inner attitude of
the protagonist character is different from her outer attitude. While her outer attitude seems to have slow reaction and calm her inner attitude shows violence
especially when she receives pressure in her reality. However, she never performs all of her violent desires.
A stylistic study has also been conducted by Moti 2010 on the Amitav Ghosh’s The Circle of Reasons. While this thesis employs SFG as the tool, in this
research, the researcher finds that this novel uses metaphor to illustrate the obsession of the characters to modern age ideas and knowledge. The example of
the metaphor is in Alu who is illustrated with extraordinary head-huge. There is also Balram in addition to Alu. This character is the most obsessed character in
this novel. One part in the novel narrates the search of Balram for “Claws” in the house. According to Moti 2010, Balram is the symbol of the contemporary
society that has various kinds of obsession, and after suffering in life, they end tragically without comprehending the life itself.
There have been various studies on Toni Morrison’s Paradise. However, they are conducted in the perspective of literary criticism rather than a linguistic
study. One of those studies is The Religious Overtones of Ethnic Identity Building in Toni Morrison’s Paradise
from Ana Ma Fraile Marcos 2002. In one part, this study discusses the conflicting Ruby and Convent as the town and the building in
it. Ruby represents the American creed and belief that exists in the Puritan origins of the United States as Marcos 2002, 95 states that it represents “… exclusionist,
discriminatory, isolationist, hegemonic, and violence in American society as well as the tensions within it.” On the contrary, Covent, grows into pluralism.
In the other part of the study by Marcos, the study discusses the clash between two beliefs in Connie. She has lived with Mary Magna’s Catholic
doctrines. On the other side, Lone makes her realize her supernatural power. As a person who lives with Catholic view, she perceives it as “satanic” gift. However,
Lone who is closely tied with the Puritan tradition says that she should accept it. Marcos borrows the terminology from Jonathan Edwards that from Christian point
of view, what Connie consider as “magic” is “emanation of God’s grace”. The result is the blur in the boundary between the sanction of the Christian creed and
the fright of practicing magic dealing with devil. If Marcos 2002 explores more on the clash of beliefs, the study
conducted by De Voss 2010 is closer to this research in terms of the psychological analysis of characters although this study uses the perspective of
literature. The title of the paper is The Identity Challenge in Toni Morrisons Paradise
. This study relates the concepts of Lacan and Levinas in psychoanalysis with the analysis of the characters in Paradise. In short, Lacan
claims that someone’s identity is basically based on the other, while Levinas states that self’s identity is for the other. “Paradise presents the reader with
numerous instances of characters whose identity is portrayed as dominated by otherness – be it the projections or reflections of identities, views, commands,
prohibitions, and even rejections of other characters.”, says De Voss 2010, 12. In connection with this thesis, De Voss 2010 investigates about Connie
and Mavis along with other characters in Paradise. De Voss 2010 claims that this novel contains metaphor, imagery, and symbolism to narrate the characters.
They illustrate the dependency of Connie and her intimate relationship to Mary Magna, a nun she considers as her mother. When Mary Magna dies, she loses her
identity. On the other hand, her identity is significant for Deacon when they fall in love. Deacon praises her so much. Besides, through her simple compliment to
Mavis, Mavis can transform from an incompetent woman into a woman who sees herself as more beautiful and stronger woman.
A study on this novel is also conducted by Chiji Akoma 2000 entitled The “Trick” of Narratives: History, Memory, and Performance in Toni Morrison’s
Paradise. This study uses a literary approach with little semantic support. It
presents the different voices of the Morgan family, Patricia Best, and Lone DuPres through their memories and histories told from one generation to another
in their family. Lone who has the spiritual power and is one of the oldest citizens seems to fill the blank spots of the memories and histories of the other two
characters. Those different voices represent the conflict in Ruby relating to the destiny of the town at the beginning, how people perceive the past, and its relation
to the present.
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
