The social stratification of the Indian society as reflected through the main characters in Desai`s The Inheritance of Loss - USD Repository
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE SOCIAL STRATIFICATION OF THE INDIAN SOCIETY AS
REFLECTED THROUGH THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN
DESAI’S THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra In English LettersBy Mauritius Kartono 064214075
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
THE SOCIAL STRATIFICATION OF THE INDIAN SOCIETY AS
REFLECTED THROUGH THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN
DESAI’S THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By
Mauritius Kartono
064214075
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Our Deepest Fear By Marianne WilliamsonOur deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking So that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were all meant to shine, as children do. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others. iv
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to My beloved father My wonderful mother My dearest sister and brothers: K’ Vera & Bang Hans, K’ Rusdy, and Peter
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Writing this thesis is a series of hard-work that is both energy and timeconsuming. What it would be without the blessing from the Lord Jesus Christ. Also,
I have been helped and encouraged by people around me. In this very moment, I
would like to thank them for it.My deepest gratitude goes to my family. I would like to thank my father and
my mother for everything they have given and for not giving up on me. I also thank
my sisters and my brothers: bang Hans, kak Vera, ka’e Rusdi, mbak Tiar, ase Peter
for motivating me and for the prayer.My deep gratitude goes to my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum., for
giving valuable corrections and advice on my thesis. I thank her for her patience and
understanding. My deep gratitude also goes to my co-advisor, Ni Luh Putu
Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. who has given her precious time to read and check on this
undergraduate thesis. I also would like to thank all English Letters lecturers for
teaching me for about four years. “I can no other answer to make, but thanks and
thanks.” (William Shakespeare). They all have inspired me to be all that I can be.I thank all my friends: ’06 students (Al, Andry, Andre, Exel, Emil, Hasan,
Wahyu, Kiki, Dewi, Sita, Ira, Danas, Puput, Rere and for all the students of class C
and D), all 8A Uniteds (Pa De, Mas Marci, Mas Andrew, Ipul, bang Titi, Johan, Adit,
Oby, Arie, and Atno), the X-Pio Jogjas (Aldo, Engkoz, Kelle, Rian, Entok, Tomi),
the English Clubbers (ka’e Engki, Indi, Ani), to all my ase (Selis, Dion, and Yanto),
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for their endless support and for being my friend. They all had made my world so
colorful. My special gratitude goes to Natas for teaching me how to be myself and
helping me shaping my idealism. More than that, Natas helped me to build up my self
confidence.I would like to thank all BEC’s teachers for giving me a chance to work with
such great persons as they are. They taught me so many things which I would not get
in class. The last but not least, I thank all my students in BEC and SDK Sang Timur
for teaching me how to be patient and how to be a good teacher. May God bless them
all!!MAURITIUS KARTONO
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ……………………………………………………… i
APPROVAL PAGE
……………………………………………………… ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE
…..…………………………………….………… iii
MOTTO PAGE
…………………………………………………………... iv
DEDICATION PAGE
…………………………………………………… v Lembar Pernyataan Publikasi ……………………………………………. vi Lembar Pernyataan Keaslian Karya …………………………………….. vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………… viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………… x
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………… xi
ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………… xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION A. Background of Study ………………………………………………
1 B. Problem Formulation ………………………………………………
5 C. Objectives of Study ………………………………………………
5 D. Definition of Terms ………………………………………………
6 CAHPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies ………………………………………
7 B. Review of Related Theories ………………………………………
8
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ………………
9
2. Society and Culture, and Literature ………………………
15
3. Theory of Setting ………………………………………………
18
4. Theory of Social Stratification ………………………………
19
5. Review of Social Stratification of Indian Society ………………
23 C. Theoretical Framework ………………………………………
26 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
A. Object of Study ………………………………………………
28 B. Approach of Study ………………………………………………
30 C. Method of Study ………………………………………………
31 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS
A. The Description of the Main Characters ………………………
33 B. The Description of Indian Society in the Novel through the Setting and the Characters…………………………………………………..
46 C. The Reflection of the Social Stratification through the Main Characters and the Social Setting…………………………………..
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CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION
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63 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………
67 APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………
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ABSTRACT
MAURITIUS KARTONO. The Social Stratification of the Indian Society as Reflected through the Main Characters in Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.Literature is a product of society. As a product of society, it reflects the social
condition of the society where the work of literature is set. This study discusses a
novel entitled The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. As a product of society, the
novel represents the social stratification of Indian society. It is represented through
the main characters.The study has three objectives. The first is to identify the main characters. The
second is to identify the Indian society described in the novel. The last is to find out
the representation of Indian social stratification reflected to the main characters.The writer applies the library research method to collect all data supporting
the research. Socio-cultural-historical approach is applied to answer the problems
stated. Besides, some theories such as theory of character, theory of characterization,
theory of setting, theory of social stratification, and review of Indian society are
applied to guide the analysis.The result of the analysis points out that the main characters reflect the Indian
social stratification through their characteristic and also their way of life. The Indian
society is stratified in some ways: by power which is determined by education,
wealth, and education, by caste system, and by ethnical stratification. The society is
stratified into three tiers: upper class, middle class, and lower class. Caste system
stratified the society of India into four main classes. They are the Brahmins, the
Khsatriyas, the Vaisyas, and the Sudras. The last is the ethnical stratification. The
people of India come from so many ethnics. Some of them are Bengalis, Nepalese,
Pakistani, and Chinese. The writer figures out that the Bengals are considered higher
than the other ethnics because they are considered as smart people, educated, and so
forth. On the contrary, the lowest is the Nepalese for they tend to use their muscle more than their brain.
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ABSTRAK
MAURITIUS KARTONO. The Social Stratification of the Indian Society as Reflected through the Main Characters in Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.Karya sastra merupakan produk masyarakat. Karya sastra merupakan produk
masyarakat. Sebagai sebuah produk masyarakat, karya sastra merefleksikan kondisi
sosial tempat karya sastra tersebut dibuat. Studi ini membahas sebuah novel berjudul
The Inheritance of Loss karangan Kiran Desai. Sebagai sebuah produk masyarakat,
novel ini merefleksikan stratifikasi sosial masyarakat India melalui tokoh-tokoh
utama.Studi ini memiliki tiga tujuan. Pertama adalah untuk mengidentifikasi tokoh
utama dalam novel tersebut. Tujuan kedua adalah untuk mengidentifikasi masyarakat
India seperti yang digambarkan di dalam novel tesebut. Tujuan yang terakhir adalah
untuk menemukan stratifikasi sosial masyarakat India yang direpresentasikan melalui
tokoh-tokoh utama.Penulis mengaplikasikan metode studi pustaka untuk mengumpulkan data
yang mendukung penelitian ini. Pendekatan socio-cultural-historical dipakai untuk
menjawab masalah-masalah yang ditetapkan. Selain itu, beberapa teori seperti teori
tokoh, teori penokohan, teori latar kejadian, teori stratifikasi sosial, dan tinjauan
umum masyarakat India diaplikasikan untuk membimbing analisis.Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa tokoh-tokoh utama dalam novel tersebut
merefleksikan stratifikasi masyarakat India melalui karakteristik dan gaya hidup
mereka. Masyarakat India terstruktur berdasarkan beberapa kategori: menurut
kekuasaan yang dipengaruhi oleh pendidikan, kekayaan, dan pekerjaan, berdasarkan
sistem kasta, dan berdasarkan ras atau suku. Masyarakat India di bagi dalam tiga
lapisan yaitu masyarakat kelas atas, kelas menengah dan kelas bawah. Berdasarkan
Kasta, masyarakat terstruktur menjadi kasta Brahmana, kasta Ksatria, Kasta Vaisa,
dan kasta Sudra. Kategori yang terakhir adalah berdasarkan suku atau ras.
Masyarakat India beasal dari berbagai macam etnis. Beberapa di antaranya adalah
Bengalis, Nepal, Pakistan, Cina, dan lain-lain. Penulis menemukan bahwa orang
Bengal dianggap lebih tinggi dari etnis-etnis yang lainnya karena dianggap sebagai
orang-orang yang cerdas, terdidik, dan sebagainya. Sebaliknya, yang paling rendah
adalah etnis Nepal karena dianggap cenderung menggunakan ototnya daripada otaknya.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of Study Literature as a work of art is a product of human intelligence. The author
gathers facts, culture, setting to create “new world” in a work of literature which amuses the readers. But, the question is what do the people read the works of literature for? Why do they want to spend their time to read let say novel, poems, etc.? There are various reasons, for example to kill time, to enjoy fanciful visions, to be amused, to learn about alien ways of feelings, and to learn about human itself. In short, people can get many interesting things in reading it. People can get both knowledge and aesthetic experiences.
Not only as a source of knowledge and pleasure, but literature also conveys idea, truth, and even factual event. Literature is considered as a reflection of reality. It is a vital record of what people have seen, what they experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those aspects of life itself which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us (the reader) (Hudson, 1958:10). It is thus fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language. Since literature is considered as a reflection of reality or the truth of life, people can investigate the truth (of life) behind the text and the aim of it.
Literature is also a product of society. It is developed along with the development of the society in which it is produced. Wellek and Warren support
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that literature is an expression of society and is determined by or dependent on its social setting, social change and development (1962: 96).
As a product of society, it reflects the condition of the society where the author lives or the origin of the authors. It can be social, politics, ideology, economical problem, or religious condition, depends on the concern or the ideology of the writer. As a part of a certain society, the authors feel that it is necessary for them to investigate the social milieu in which it necessary reflects. No one of course can deny their assertions: first, that literature is not created in a vacuum, and secondly, that literature embodies ideas significant to the culture that produced it (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 8).
Often, a literary work is used as a tool or device by an author to criticize the conditions that happened around him, and of course depends on their ideology or depends on what they are fighting for. We cannot deny that literary works are records of values, thoughts, problems, and conflicts in society because an author is the member of society itself. In his or her work, he or she conveys the daily life or their experience on certain social, political, economical, cultural issues, or historical movement.
In making a good story, the society becomes an important background. The society gives an important effect in the composition. As Langland (1984: 5 – 6) in Society and the Novel says that the condition in the real world can be applied in the pattern of art. It means that the real condition or the society can be a good basic for the writer to form a good literary work.
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The real condition in our life can become an inspiration of the author to produce a literary work. In the novel the author also uses the real condition as his or her inspiration in producing a literary art. Based on The New Encyclopedia
Britannica it is said that novel is a literary work. It is a genre of fiction, fiction
may be define as the art craft of contriving, through the written words, representations of human life that instruct or divert or both (Hutchin, 1986: 276).
As one of the best writers in the twentieth, Desai pleases her readers through one of her masterpieces, The Inheritance of Loss. The plots, the characters, the setting, give a certain pleasure to the readers. So many praises come up from the reader or even for the literary critics after reading it. Desai also touches so many issues throughout the book, such as the issue of globalization, multiculturalism, post colonialism, inequality, romance, social stratification, etc.
It is quite different from her first novel, which only provides the issue of third world country. Ann Harleman, on Globe Correspondent said that The Inheritance
of Loss is rich of descriptions of people, places, weather, seasons, and the social
condition in India (http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/01/04/).The society where the author lives will influence the content of his or her works. Desai, as a part of Indian society and also as an author, was influenced by social condition around her at the time in creating the background of the Novel.
The Inheritance of Loss, set in India in the 1980s, reflects the life of Indian society
in the 1980s or after the period of the British colonization. It becomes the basic idea of Desai’s novel The Inheritance of Loss. Besides, the 1980s is the period when India was in the cusp of modernization and globalization.
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As a developing country, India was faced so many problems such as economic, social, and politic, etc. In this thesis, the writer will focus on the social problems in India, especially on its social stratification.
India is a hierarchical society. Within the Indian culture, whether in the north or the south, Hindu or Muslim, urban or village, virtually all things, people, and groups of people are ranked according to various qualities. Although India is a political democracy, in daily life there is little advocacy of or adherence to nations of equality.
Indian society is stratified in many ways. In general, the society is stratified by caste system which divides the society into four groups, namely Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and the Sudras. But, Indian society is also divided by the rules of descents, rules of marriage, ritual, occupation, ideas about purity and pollution, or by various combinations of these criteria of differentiation (Sills, 1972: 24). Those social stratifications affect the social’s life. The relationship between an individual and the others, and even the duty and the rights of the people are also differentiated based on what caste someone belongs to. Say for example, Brahmins, the priests and the teachers. They are considered as the right hand of God and educated. So, they are in the highest level of the society. However, the Sudras are the people who do the menial jobs. Therefore, they (the Sudras) are the lowest group in the society. As the lowest group, they are prohibited to enter the palace of the higher class.
Those situations and the portrayal of the Indian society are obviously and successfully portrayed in the novel through the main characters. It is described
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through how the main characters interact and through their role in “the society” in the novel. In this thesis, the writer tries to enhance the idea how the society is stratified.
B. Problem Formulation
The writer formulates three problems in analyzing the novel. This means to limit the scope of the analysis.
1. How are the main characters described in the novel?
2. How is the Indian society in the novel described through the setting and the main characters?
3. How do the main characters and the description of the Indian society reflect the Indian social stratification?
C. Objectives of the Study
There are three objectives of study based on the problems formulated in the previous part. The first is to reveal the characteristics of the main characters in The Inheritance of Loss. Then, this study is also aimed to find how the Indian society is described in the novel through the setting and the main characters. The last one is to find how the main characters and the description of the society reflect the Indian social stratification. The main characters in The Inheritance of
Loss are the Judge, Sai, Gyan, and the Cook. The main characters live in the same
situation, the same society but they belong to different social classes or ranks. It
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represents the social stratification of Indian society. Besides, their relationship also represents the social stratification in Indian society.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to make a better understanding and to avoid misunderstanding of terms, they need to be defined.
1. Indian Society
In The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Patwel, 1996: 58), Indian means relating to India or the East Indies or to their peoples, language, or cultures. Thus, Indian is a native of India in the East Indies. Here, in my thesis, Indian Society is related to the society of India in the East Indies.
2. Social Stratification
Social stratification is a social concept that refers to the fact that both individuals and groups of individuals are conceived of as constituting higher and lower differentiated strata, or classes, in terms of some generalized characteristic or set of characteristics (Sills, 1972: 289). PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW In this chapter, the writer will explore some reviews in order to support the
analysis. This chapter consists of the review of related studies, review of related theories and the review of Indian society’s social stratification. The last part is the theoretical framework.
A. Review of Related Studies
Kiran Desai was born in India in 1971. She is the daughter of Anita Desai, who is also an author. At the age of fourteen years, she and her family moved to England. She was educated in India, England, and the United States. She has written two novels, her first novel is Hullabalo in the Guava Orchard (1998) and her second novel is The Inheritance of Loss (2006). In her two novels, she tries to evoke the problems of the third world country, in this context India. She also tries to enhance the changing of India as the result of British colonization. Winning the Betty Trask Award in 1998 and 2006 Man Booker Prize proves that Desai is a successful writer and makes her as the youngest writer who wins those coveted prizes (http:www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=229).
Kiran Desai also makes hard-hitting attack on the corrupt political system in India which is reflected in her two novels, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard
and The Inheritance of Loss. Krishna Singh, in her article Aravind Adiga’s The
White Tiger: The Voice of Underclass-A Postcolonial Dialectics wrote that Desai
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describes insurgency rampant in the whole country for separates (Singh, 1999: 103). She curtly blames the policy makers for this. The novel also gives the detailed accounts of the Indian Society; rural as well as urban and its various facets, such as poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, caste and culture conflict, superstition, dowry practice, economic disparity, corrupt education system.
In some parts of the novel, migration becomes the major theme. In general, the common aim of migration has been to improve one’s future prospects through education and work. But, after decolonization, many people from the Third World and former colonized countries migrated to the West in order to secure a better future for themselves and their families back home. From the industrialized countries’ point of view, the immigrants have helped out in increasing demand of labor. However, the multicultural societies of today have also been a challenge. Prejudice and intolerance, especially in connection with differences in race and ethnicity, have been demanding and problematic. Due to variation in cultural and religious background, gender roles have proven difficult in relation to western ideals and other cultures. Finally, the question of class has been signified – both respect of professional skills and social status in the country of origin, but also regarding how immigrants settle and integrate into a new country (http://www.boloji.com/perspective/223.htm).
According to Whale, Desai also pictures the condition of India especially Nepal in the cusp of globalization. It illustrates the security afforded by love, home and tradition and the disturbance to identity that occurs when they are threatened (http: www.gla.ac.uk/esharp).
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All the articles reviewed above talk about the issues related to the social condition in India around the 1980s. Here, the writer just focuses on the description of the Indian society in general portrayed in the novel specifically on Indian society’s social stratification which reflected through the novel and the setting of the novel. Until now, India is one of the countries that occupy a very unique socialstratification.
B. Review of Related Theory
1. Character and Characterization
a. Character
Hearing the word “character”, two kinds of interpretation arises in our mind. Firstly, people may think of the person who exists in the story physically, and secondly, people may think about the characterization of the people.
In real life, our sense of character naturally varies with our power of our perception and understanding. Harvey (2002: 30) says what human being seen in others is only what we are able to see and this ability then form for other part of our own character. In other words, human being can find their own characterization by how they judge or value anyone else. This ability is used by the authors to create a fictional character.
Authors put the facts of people around them and through their imagination creating a fictional character. For example, love, death, sleep, dream, etc as what real person have in the real world. It makes the novel or other works of literature seems livelier. The character in a work of literature is usually human being. As
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Forster in his book, Aspects of the Novel (1927: 46) said that the actors in a story are usually human. That is why a character can be mentioned as people. Although, in some stories, the characters are animals, the author still uses the quality of human being as the characteristics of the characters (animals).
The question then is whether the people in the real world and in a created world in a work literature are similar or not. The answer is of course not. There is a bound to be a difference. If the character in a novel is exactly like a person in a real world, let’s say Queen Victoria, and the novel, all of it that the character touches, becomes a memoir. A memoir is history, which is based on evidence (Forster, 1927: 44 - 45). In the other way, a novel is based on evidence + or – x, the unknown quantity being the temperament of the novelist, and the unknown quantity always modifies the effect of the evidence, and sometimes transforms it entirely.
In the literary context, character and characterization takes a very important role. Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle, in their book An
Introduction to Literature, Criticism, and Theory, stated that character is the life
of literature: they are the object of our curiosity and fascination, affection and dislike, admiration and condemnation (2004: 60). Indeed, through the power of imagination, through the sympathy and antipathy, the characters can become part of how we conceive ourselves, a part of who we are. Besides, character created by the writer can be considered as the focus of the story. Readers come to know them as people and can understand their feelings and thoughts.
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So, what is exactly the meaning or the definition of the character then? Character in a work of literature is always related to the people. They are created by “person” and take the characteristics of people in the real world. Although in some works of literature, such as fables the characters are animals but still use the quality of human being. In A Handbook to Literature by Holman and Harmon (1986:81) a character is defined as a personage who typifies some certain qualities and characterization is the creation of the imagery personage who exists for readers as lifelike. Therefore, character and characterization are related to each other.
Considering the function of the characters in a work of literature, the author presents them in dramatic or narrative ways. Through the characters, the author puts the messages which are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say, the dialogue, and by what they do or the action. Then, character is defined as people or persons presented in a dramatic way and the readers interpreted their qualities through their dialogue, actions, and the relation between the characters (Abrams, 1999: 32- 33).
There are many kinds of character. It depends on their functions in developing the story. According to Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs, there are two kinds of character, round character and flat character. A round character is considered as one of the major figures in the work. He or she profits from experiences and undergoes a change of some sort. Since the undergoing change or growth as the result of their experience, the round characters are considered
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dynamic. Round characters are just as complex and as difficult to understand as living people (1989: 48). E. M. Forster in Aspects of the Novels (1927: 67 - 69) stated that round characters are complex in temperament, motivation and are presented with subtitle particularly. Thus, round characters are described in a more complete way (Abrams, 1999: 33). As contrasted to the round character, the flat characters are indistinguishable from other person in particular group or class.
Therefore the flat characters are not individual, but representative, and flat characters are usually minor, although not all minor characters are flat. Further, Forster says that a flat character has only one feature or at most a few distinguishing marks. Somehow, flat characters are characters with some outstanding traits.
The other kind of character is the major character and the minor character. The major character is the main focus in a work of literature. The author’s idea or thought are represented through the main characters. Therefore, the reader’s attention is focused on them. As Henkle states in his book Reading the Novel:
Major character has a fullest attention for the readers. They will have opinions that he or she will represent their wish and thought, and may become the major figure that build their expectation and desires, which in modification shift or established their values (Henkle, 1977:92). On the contrary, the minor character is character that has a limited function. The minor character is the partner of the major character in the story; it can be the major character’s friend or enemy, to improve the story and to make some interaction to fulfill the context of the story (Henkle, 1977: 95).
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b. Characterization Characterization also plays an important role in building the idea of a story.
Characterization is the way the author characterize the characters. According to C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon (1986: 81), characterization is the creation of imagery persons so that they exist for the readers as life. Therefore, characterization should be conveyed in a good way in order to create a clear image to the reader’s perception.
Rohrberger and Woods Jr. in Reading and Writing about Novel (1971:20) define characterization as the process by which an author creates character, it is the device that he makes the readers to believe a character in the particular type of person he is. An author does this way to make a stereotype of someone existing in a real world situation comes real during the reading.
According to Murphy (1972: 161 -173), there are nine methods in which the readers can understand the character. They are:
a. Personal Description
The author describes the appearance of a character in details such as the face, the skin color, the hair, etc.
b. Character as Seen by the Others
The author describes the character of the person through the other’s eyes and opinion. There the opinion may come from people around the person about his personality which can also determine his characteristics.
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c. Speech
The author gives the readers some clue about the character through what the character says.
d. Past Life
In certain events of the character’s past life, the readers will know the characteristic of him/her. Here we learn that a character’s past experiences, particularly those which are really meaningful can cause several effects to the person’s future life even may change his character.
e. Conversation of Others
Through the conversations done by other people, the readers will know what they say about the character.
f. Reactions
The readers will know what kind of person the character is by seeing how he/she reacts to various situations in the story. The readers here can conclude if a person is temperamental or patient and etc.
g. Direct Comment
The author gives direct comment to the character. However, the author will not give lots of direct comment otherwise the novel will be uninteresting to deeply read.
h. Thoughts
The author directly gives what a person is thinking about. By knowing what in the character’s mind, the readers will know his characteristic.
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i. Mannerism
The author creates the character’s behaviors where each and every one of the behaviors will show the characteristic of the character. A person’s habits of idiosyncrasies may also tell us something about someone’s characteristic.
Murphy (1972: 161) also adds that characterization is the presentation of the characters’ personalities including their attitudes, appearance, motives, and actions, which are created to be life like. This is in order that the ideas of what kind of people they are in the story are conveyed to the readers.
2. Society and Literature, and Culture
Literature and Society are the two things that cannot be separated. Literature is an expression of society, a social institution. It is said that literature represents life and life itself is a social reality, through the natural world and the inner of subjective world of the individual have also been object of literary imitations (Wellek and Waren, 1962: 94).
However, it is not always true that literature imitates the accurate reality of society. The author certainly copies or imitates his or her experience and conception of life, but it would be manifested untrue to say that he or she expresses the whole life of a given time completely and comprehensively.
Langland in Society in the Novel states that society is “an animation of an outside world which has tended to obscure the formal variety of social presentation in the novel” (1984: 4). So, the society in a real life and in a literary work is almost the
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same because usually the author describes the society of his work based on the society in a real life.
Furthermore, Langland says that if society is a concept and construct in art, it is also a concept and construction of life. She also explains that society in the novels or literary works does not depend on points of absolute fidelity or accuracy to an outside world in details, such as costume, setting, and locality because in the novel does not aim to at faithful mirror of any concrete (1984: 5).