THE INFLUENCE OF SETTING OF PLACE TOWARDS THE MAJOR CHARACTERS AS SEEN IN EDITH NESBIT’S THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
THE INFLUENCE OF SETTING OF PLACE TOWARDS THE MAJOR
CHARACTERS AS SEEN IN EDITH NESBIT’S THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
DEWI RACHMAWATI
Student Number: 044214095
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008
THE INFLUENCE OF SETTING OF PLACE TOWARDS THE MAJOR
CHARACTERS AS SEEN IN EDITH NESBIT’S THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
DEWI RACHMAWATI
Student Number: 044214095
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008
“IT IS BETTER TO WANT WHAT YOU
HAVE THAN TO HAVE WHAT YOU WANT”
(Somerset Maugham)
I dedicate this thesis to
My beloved father
My beloved mother
My beloved Sister
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my ultimate gratitude to God, Allah SWT, for His help and His guidance. Without Him, I cannot be what I am meant to be. He always gives me what is the best for me. He fills me with His strength and guidance, so I can finally finish writing this thesis.
My deepest gratitude also goes to my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum, my co- advisor, J. Harris Hermansyah S., S.S.,M.Hum, and my examiner, Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M.Hum, who have been willing to guide me to finish this thesis. I really thank them for their help, guidance, suggestion, support, time and energy spent to read, correct, and criticize my thesis. Because of them, I can complete my thesis.
Besides, I also thank to my dearest father Gatot Midihardja and loveliest mother Sekarteky for their work hard, trust and prayer. Without them, I do not have opportunity to study in Sanata Dharma University. Then, I also thank to my sister, Titien Noorfidiana, who becomes my biggest motivation to finish my study as soon as possible.
In addition, there are also many persons that support me to complete my thesis. I thank to my best friend, Muhammad Nur Addin, for his patience and attention. Then, I also thank to my friends Tata, Intan, Cimot, Master Erwin, Rita, and Ririn who always disturb, support and make me laugh when I will do this thesis. Next, to my KKN Wonodoro friends group 11 Mita, Indri, Tato, Dima, Andrew, Lia, Ndaru, Joko, and Amel and her charming boyfriend. I thank for the sweetest memory given. I will never forget it guys. The last gratitude is for persons who have contribution and are not mentioned here.
ABSTRACT
DEWI RACHMAWATI. The Influence of Setting of Place towards the Major
Characters as Seen in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. Yogyakarta: Department
of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.This thesis analyzes a novel written by Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children. The writer talks about the influence of setting that happens toward the major characters, Mother, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis in the novel. They become major characters because they have big part in this novel and their characteristics change after they move in the new environment, Three Chimneys.
In order to analyze this novel, three problems are formulated. The first problem is about the characteristics and characterization of the major characters. The second problem deals with the setting of the novel. The setting in this novel is the setting place that causes changes on the major characters’ behavior. The last problem is about how the setting of place in the novel influences the major characters’ behaviors.
To accomplish this study, the writer employs the New Criticism approach. Library research method is used to collect the data from the books and other references. Theories of character and characterization, theory on setting, and theory on characters development are used to answer the three problems formulated of this thesis.
The result of this study shows that the setting of place in this novel influences the characteristics of the major characters. The major characters in this novel move into a certain setting that is very different from their previous setting. The major characters that experience characters development in this novel are Mother, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. Their characteristics change when they move from London to Three Chimneys. First, Mother is an attentive mother when in London, but after moving in Three Chimneys, she becomes introverted, busy, patience, strong and thrifty mother, but she still worries about her children. However, Mother’s characteristic changing is different from her children because she has bigger responsibility than her children. Second, Roberta is a stubborn girl and she becomes an attentive, mature, and brave girl. Next, Peter is spoiled boy that becomes mature, attentive, and brave boy after moving to Three Chimneys. The last character is Phyllis. She is spoiled and spontaneous child. Then, she becomes attentive, brave, and little bit mature when they move to Three Chimneys. However, the setting of place influences her indirectly through her siblings. In short, in their new setting of place, the major characters get new experiences and make acquaintances with different people and characteristics. They also have to face the problem in their life that is harder than before. Therefore, they also have to change their characteristics to face their problems in the new setting.
ABSTRAK
DEWI RACHMAWATI. The Influence of Setting of Place towards the Major
Characters as Seen in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. Yogyakarta: Jurusan
Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma 2008.Skripsi ini menganalisis novel yang ditulis oleh Edith Nesbit, The Railway
Children . Penulis membahas tentang pengaruh latar yang terjadi pada tokoh- tokoh utama
dalam novel yaitu Mother, Roberta, Peter, dan Phyllis. Mereka menjadi tokoh utama karena mereka mempunyai peranan yang besar dalam novel ini dan watak mereka berubah setelah mereka pindah ke lingkungan mereka yang baru yaitu Three Chimneys.
Ada tiga masalah yang dirumuskan untuk menganalisis novel ini. Permasalahan pertama tentang watak dan perwatakan tokoh utama. Permasalahan kedua berkaitan dengan latar novel. Latar dalam novel adalah tempat yang menyebabkan perubahan- perubahan pada tingkah laku tokoh-tokoh utama. Permasalahan terakhir tentang bagaimana latar tempat dalam novel mempengaruhi tingkah laku tokoh- tokoh utama.
Dalam skripsi ini penulis menggunakan pendekatan kritik baru. Metode kepustakaan digunakan untuk mengumpulkan data dari buku- buku dan sumber- sumber lain. Teori watak dan perwatakan, teori latar, dan teori perkembangan karakter digunakan untuk menjawab tiga masalah yand dirumuskan pada skripsi ini.
Hasil dari pembelajaran ini menunjukkan bahwa latar tempat dalam novel ini mempengaruhi watak tokoh- tokoh utama. Tokoh- tokoh utama dalam novel ini pindah pada latar yang sangat berbeda dengan latar mereka sebelumnya. Karakter utama yang mengalami perkembangan karakter dalam novel ini adalah Mother, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis. Watak mereka berubah ketika mereka pindah dari London ke Three Chimneys. Yang pertama Mother yang merupakan ibu yang perhatian ketika di London menjadi ibu yang tertutup, sibuk, sabar, kuat dan hemat setelah pindah ke Three Chimneys. Akan tetapi dia masih mengkhawatirkan anak- anaknya. Perubahan karakter pada Mother berbeda dengan anaknya karena dia mempunyai tanggung jawab yang lebih besar dari anak- anaknya. Yang kedua adalah Roberta yang merupakan gadis yang keras kepala dan menjadi gadis yang perhatian, dewasa dan berani. Berikutnya adalah Peter yang merupakan anak manja yang menjadi anak yang dewasa, perhatian, dan berani setelah pindah ke Three Chimneys. dan yang terakhir adalah Phyllis. Dia adalah anak yang manja dan spontan. Kemudian dia menjadi anak yang perhatian, berani, dan sedikit dewasa ketika mereka pindah ke Three Chimneys. Akan tetapi latar tempat mempengaruhinya secara tidak langsung yaitu melalui saudara- saudaranya. Singkatnya, pada latar mereka yang baru, mereka mendapatkan pengalaman- pengalaman baru dan berkenalan dengan orang- orang yang berbeda watak. Mereka juga harus menghadapi masalah dalam hidup mereka yang lebih sulit dari sebelumnya. Sehingga mereka juga harus mengubah watak mereka untuk mengahadapi masalah mereka di latar yang baru.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study A novel is a kind of literary work that we often meet in our daily life. It
consists of some elements, such as plot, characters, setting, and theme. In addition,
those elements relate to each other and sometimes can influence one another, too.
One of interesting things in analyzing a literary work is by relating one element to
another element in the literary works. Besides interesting, it is also very useful to
give deeper understanding for the readers about the content of a novel. For
example, what the writer is going to do in this thesis is by relating the setting and
the characters in the novel. The setting and the characters in the novel have close
relationship, so the characters’ behaviors are sometimes influenced by the setting,
such as setting of time, setting of place and setting of society. The characters can
have different characteristics in a different setting. It depends on when and where
the characters live, and the society that live around them. By doing that kind of
analysis, the readers will understand why the characters’ behavior changed when
they live in a different setting.In this thesis, the writer will analyze The Railway Children, a novel written
by Edith Nesbit. The writer is going to analyze two elements of this novel. Those
elements are the setting and the characters. Then, the writer will relate those
elements and see their relationship. Therefore, the writer can see how one element
can influence the other element. In this novel, the main characters are influenced
by the setting of place in the novel. Their characteristics change when they move
from their house in London that is comfortable to the cottage in the country that
lies beside a railway track. It is clear that the setting of place influences their
behavior.In addition, the writer is going to analyze a novel written by Edith Nesbit
because of some reasons. First, it is because Edith Nesbit is one of the popular
novelists. Her works are also very popular and some of them appeared in Sunday
Magazine . The works of Edith Nesbit are The Treasure Seekers that was
published under pseudonym “Edith Mortimer” in 1904, The Book of Dragon
(1900), The Would-be-Goods (1901), Five Children and It (!902), The Phoenix
and the Carpet (1904) that is the sequel of Five Children and It. Then, two years
later, The Story of the Amulet completed the trilogy. In addition, The Railway
Children were published on 1904 and followed by one of her most haunting
stories, The Enchanted Castle. Her other books are The House of Arden (1908),
Harding’s Luck (1909), and Wet Magic (1913).Besides the author and her works, the story of this novel is also very
interesting. This novel tells about a family life and also the adventures of three
children. Their life changes when their father left home mysteriously and
suddenly. Then, the children and the mother move from London to a cottage in the
country named “Three Chimneys” that lies beside a railway track. In addition,
their behavior changes in this place, especially the children as we can see in the
quotation below.‘So I’ve caught you at last, have I, you young thief?’ said the Station Master.
‘I’m not a thief,’said Peter, as firmly as he could. ‘I’m a coal-miner.’
………… ‘You know that wet day? Well, Mother said we were too poor to have a fire. We always had fires when it was cold at our other house,and —‘ (Nesbit, 1995: 31-33)The quotation above shows that Peter’s behavior changes. He tries to steal
coal in the station, whereas he never did that before. He did that because his
mother did not permit him to have a fire when the day was very cold. His mother
did that because coal was very expensive, so they had to be thrift and saved the
coal for the winter. Besides, he knew that there were many coals in the station and
he decided to steal coals from the station. In addition, the setting of place here has
an important role in shaping the characteristics of Peter. Peter and his family live
in the station that is a place where there are many coals that is very needed by
Peter. Therefore, he was determined to steal some coal from the station because of
necessity. It is one of the examples that the setting of place has important roles in
this novel.Then, the writer chooses The Influence of Setting of Place towards The
Major Characters as Seen in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children as the topic.
The writer chooses that topic for this thesis because the setting of place and the
characters in this novel have close relationship. The setting of place has important
roles toward the development of the major characters. Moreover, in this thesis, the
writer will analyze the setting of place and the characters in this novel one by one.
First, the writer will analyze the first setting of place and the behavior of the
character in the first setting. Second, the writer will analyze the second setting of
place and the changes of characters’ behavior because the behaviors of the
characters are influenced by the setting around them. They live in the certain
place, so they have to adapt and survive with the place and the society around
them. However, their behaviors can also change. Then, the writer will compare
both setting of places and the characters. Therefore, the writer can see the changes
of the characters’ behavior. Besides, the writer can also see how the setting of
place gives influence toward the characters and forms the characters’ behavior
that is different from their previous behavior when they are in the different setting.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to analyze the influence of setting of place towards major characters in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children, the writer formulates three problems listed as follows.
1. How are the major characters depicted in the novel? 2.
How is the setting of place described in the novel? 3. How does the setting of place influence characters’ development?
C. Objectives of Study
The main objective of this study is to answer the questions in the problem
formulation. The questions are about the major characters, the setting of place in
the novel and the influence of setting of place towards major characters’ behavior.
In this study, firstly the writer tries to see how the characters and the setting of
place are described in the novel. Because of the setting of place in this novel
changes, the writer will analyze both setting of places and compare them. The
setting of place here is not merely place but also the society who live in it. Then,
the writer is also going to analyze the behavior of the major characters in each
setting, so the writer can see the changes of the major characters’ behavior and
why they changes. Besides, the writer will also be able to see how the setting of
place influences the major characters’ behavior in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway
Children .D. Definition of Terms
In order to analyze the novel, there are some terms that need to be clarified
in order to give clear explanation and make the same perception about the terms
used in this analysis. The terms are: 1.Character Abrams, in his A Glossary of Literary Terms, defines characters are “ the
person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who interrupt the readers as
being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what
they say- the dialogue- and by what they do- the action”(1981: 20). It means that
the personality of characters can be judged from their action and dialogue that
they have in drama or narrative.2. Characterization
Rohrberger and Woods, in their book named Reading and Writing about Literature state that:
Characters have particular personalities and physical attributes that distinguish them from other characters. The process by which and author creates a character is called CHARACTERIZATION (1971: 22) It means that characters can be judged from their personalities and also
their physical attribute. It can be done by describing their physical appearance
such as their age, hair, skin, etc or seeing the way they behave. For example is that
the character can be said as naughty or a bad person if she/he often makes
troubles.2. Setting
In the literary works, there must be setting. The setting in the literary work
has important roles such as influence the character’s behavior, give description
about certain society in the certain time, etc. Abrams, in his book A Glossary of
Literary Terms , states that the overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs; the setting of a single episode or scene within a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place (1981: 175). It means that setting is not only about the place where the actions occur,but also time and society. Setting of time means time when the action occurs,
while setting of society is what kind of social circumstances the action occurs.
Then, in this thesis, the writer will focus on the setting of place including the
society who lives in it because that setting of place have important role in this
novel in influencing the main characters’ development.CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies Review of related studies is a study that was done previously and used as
references in the next study. In the thesis, the writer has four related studies. The
writer is going to use two undergraduate theses, essays on the author’s life, and an
analysis about The Railway Children but with different topics as the related
studies for this thesis. As the first related study, the writer will use study of Vicki
Palmquist. In her essay, she tells about the life of Edith Nesbit. She tells that Edith
Nesbit was trailblazer because she wrote in the midst of the Victorian conventions
of preaching to children through her books.Instead of preaching, E. Nesbit wrote to children as her equals because, "When I was a little child I used to pray fervently, tearfully, that when I should be grown up I might never forget what I thought, felt, and suffered then." (http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/birthbios/brthpage/08aug/8- 15nesbit.html) Besides, from the quotation above we can see that Vicky also wrote in her
essay that the purpose of Edith Nesbit’s life is to write novels for children because
she did not want to forget what she felt, suffered, and thought when she was a
child. Vicky’s essay also mentioned that Edith Nesbit’s father ran a London
college but died when she was three years old and left her mother to raise five
children alone. Besides, Vicki also told about Edith Nesbit’s life. Then, from
Vicki’s story, it can be seen that the story of Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children
is almost the same as Edith Nesbit’s life. It means that Edith Nesbit wanted to tell
about her experiences in life through her novels. Then, as the second related study
Widiyanti titled The Influence of Setting to Dr.Manette’s Characterisation in
Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities . In her thesis, Natalia talks about Dr. Manette, a
responsible and kind doctor that is sent to jail because he tries to help the poor
people against injustice that often happens at that time. It gives bad influence to
Dr. Manette’s characteristic. He is isolated in a small and lonely place that makes
him cannot communicate with others and practice his profession as a good doctor.
He has studious habit that always spends his time to produce something useful, so
that when he is in the jail, he makes shoes to spend his time and produce
something useful. However, his life in the jail influences his life in the present
time. After he releases from the jail, he becomes a person who prefers to live in
the quiet place as he used to do when in jail. It seems that he has his own world.
He feels that by being a shoemaker he can erase his pain. It shows that the setting
influence Dr. Manette’s characterization (Widiyanti, 2000: 54-55).In addition, the third related study that the writer is going to use is also an
undergraduate thesis by Trisna Budiyanti titled The Influence of Setting toward
the Main Character as seen in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome . In her thesis, Trisna
has the same topic with Natalia that is about the influence of setting toward
characters in the novel. The focus of Trisna’s thesis is Ethan Frome. He is a man
that is trapped in the isolated place in New England town of Starkfield. He lived
with his wife, Zeena and his wife’s cousin, Mattie in Starkfield. Starkfield is a
small village that does not change much over time. Besides, the harsh winter
makes the condition in this town getting worse. That condition influence the
quality of life or the behaviors of people in that place, especially Ethan Frome. In
the novel, he is described as a lame, grizzled, and ruined man both in body and
spirit. He is also crippled, but he is a good person. There are many bad things that
happened to him during winter like the death of his father and mother, his
marriage with Zeena. That kind of condition makes him fail to realize any of hisdesire, especially to be an engineer, because he has to be responsible to his
family.(Budiyanti, 2002: 51-53). It shows that the setting can influence the
character in the novel.Next, the fourth related study is a short analysis about The Railway Children that was compiled by Allie Spencer, Lisa Pashouros, and Trina Haldar.
In their analysis, they analyze about the characters in The Railway Children and also the setting of the novel. However, they do not only analyze the setting of the novel, but also the setting when Edith Nesbit wrote The Railway Children. Then, they relate the setting in the reality with the setting in the novel. They also tell that The Railway Children is a kind of reflection from Edith Nesbit about the condition that happened around her. The condition and what happened through the character in The Railway Children is almost the same as the condition in the reality at that
time (Spencer, Allie, Lisa Pashouros, and Trina Haldar, 2004.
http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/files/The%20Railway%20Children.pdf) Those related studies are very helpful to give a description about the topicand the object that the writer is going to analyze. The writer can get the
description of the characters in the novel and the theory that is usually used to analyze about the influence of setting toward the characters in the novel. Besides, from those related studies, the writer can see some reasons why the characters in the novel can change their behavior when they live in the other setting.However, what makes this thesis different from the other is that the objects
of this analysis are all the major characters, whereas usually other theses only
analyze one major character in the novel. The writer wants to analyze all of the
major characters because the characters whose behaviors change are not only one
character but all the major characters.B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
The first theory that the writer uses is theory of character and
characterization. The writer uses that theory in order to analyze the characteristics
of the characters in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. In A Glossary of
Literary Terms, Abrams defines characters as the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who interrupt the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what way they say- the dialogue- and by what they do- the action (1981: 20).
The quotation above means that personality of the characters can be
judged from their action and dialogue that they have in drama or narrative works.
In addition, according to Ian Milligan in The Novel in English (1983: 155),
characters can be distinguished based on their role in the story. Those characters
are major and minor characters. Major characters are characters that become the
focus of the story from the beginning to the end, while minor characters are
characters that only appear in certain setting, and only become the background of
major characters and have less important role.In addition, Barnet says that there are some important factors when the readers want to see the characters (1998: 712). Those factors are:
1. What the characters say. In the novel, the readers will read what the characters say to others or to themselves and in what condition the characters say their dialogues. Then, the reader will know the characteristics of the characters.
2. What the characters do. What the characters do in some different situations can show the readers their characteristics.
3. What other characters say about the character. It is very helpful for the readers to evaluate the characteristics of characters in the novel more deeply.
4. What others do. It is important in order to know the characters because the characters will say and do something. They interact with the others to show what they want, what they need and what they do. From that, we can see the responses of the others and the characters. Then, we can see the characters better.
While, Rohrberger and Woods, in their book named Reading and Writing
about Literature state that characterization can be determined based on the
personalities and attributes that is possessed by the characters and can distinguish
them from the other characters. It can be done by describing physical appearances
or seeing how the characters behave. Besides, they also have the definition about
characterization. They define characterization as the process by which an author
creates a character, the devices by which he makes us believe that a character is
the particular type of person he is. Then, according to Rohrberger and Woods,
there are two ways that the author can do in order to characterize. Those ways are
Direct and Dramatic characterization. Direct characterization means doing
characterization by the describing physical appearances and intellectual, moral
and the degree of sensitivity such as the age, shape of the body, hair, and etc,
while dramatic characterization means characterizing by placing the character in a
situation to show what the character is by the way the character behaves or speaks
(1971: 20). For example, if the character in the story always has problems with the
others, it means that the character is characterized as a bad person. The author
places that character in the situation in which people hate her/ him because of her
or his bad attitude, so that makes her or him seem a bad person.2. Theory on Setting
Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms give definition about setting of narrative or dramatic work as follows: the overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs; the setting of a single episode or scene within a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place (1981: 175).
Holman and Harmon in their A Handbook to Literature mention that there are four elements forming a setting, namely: (1) the actual geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room; (2) the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters; (3) the time or period in which the action takes places, for example, epoch in history or season of the year; (4) the general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions through which the people in the narrative move (1986: 465). From the quotation above, we can see that the setting is the environment of
the events in the story and the immediate world in which they occur. There are
many things that can be included into setting and those have important roles in the
story. The setting can influence the behaviors and the mindset of the characters in
the novel. The characters can have bad or good behaviors and mature or childish
thinking based on the environment where they live. For example people who have
bad attitude live in the environment that consists of good people, it may change
their bad attitude into good attitude.Murphy in his Understanding Unseens also has some points about how the
setting is important. He says that setting of novel has great effects upon
personalities, action and way of thinking of the characters (1972: 41). According
to him there are four kind of setting of time as stated below a. Present timeMurphy explains that an author may write a story about his or her own time, the things that are happening around him or her, or the events about them.
b. Past time An author may choose to go backwards in time and write about historical events in order to light up the past to readers. Some imagination may be used to go back to past historical times.
c. Future time An author may also take readers to the future through his imagination.
The story may deal with the condition of the world free from any economic-social-political pressure (totalitarian tyranny, anarchy, capitalism), or with the development of human civilization exploring other planets in the universe or dealing with robots.
d. No specific time An author has the right to give the readers no indication of the time in which the story takes place. The story is something like the old fairy stories; they happen ‘once upon a time’ (1972: 143-144). In addition, Murphy also states some points on the setting of place. He
says that a story may have three kinds of place as the settings. The first is a
familiar place, which is considered by the author to be familiar to most of the
readers, either from experience or by close acquaintance. Thus, a British writer may choose to write about events that take place in London or any other part of
Britain. The second place is an unfamiliar place that is likely to be unfamiliar to
many of the readers of the author’s own nation. Then, the third is imaginary place.
It is a place which is not familiar to anyone at all may be used as well by the
author to be the setting of his or her work of literature. However, in this thesis, the
writer will only focus on the setting of place including the society who live in it.3. Theory on Characters Development
Setting and characters in the novel are two important things that influence
one to another. The setting itself is not only where the action happened but also
when and in what condition the action happened. The characters cannot exist
without setting and vice versa. In his book, M.J. Murphy states that the setting of
the novel has a great effect upon the personalities, action and way of thinking of
the characters. The setting “where” and “when” they live in or at determine the
characters in the novel (1972: 41).According to Reaske in his book How to Analyze Drama, he mentions that
there are two kinds of characters that are active characters and passive characters
(1966: 43). Active characters are characters that perform acts and have large parts
in the play. They are considered as dynamic because their characteristics change
based on the action in the play. They usually change their behaviors and views
because of some events or evidences. In addition, passive characters are characters
that only have small parts in the play. They are different from active characters
because their behavior and views unchanged although there are some events that
may change the situation. Because of that, they are considered as static. However,
this theory is actually to analyze drama, but in this thesis I use it to analyze novel
because novel and drama are almost the same. They are literary works that have
characters and setting as their important elements.Perrine in Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense states that there are some
conditions that make the characters change. First, it must be within the
possibilities of the characters that make it. It means that the characters should
change step by step. Second, it must be sufficiently motivated by the
circumstances in which the characters find themselves. The characters usually
have certain reason to change their characteristics. Third, it must be allowed
sufficient time for a change of its magnitude believably to take place. It means
that the characters need a period of time to change their characteristics (1974: 71)In addition, according to Abrams, the characters express their moral and
disposition qualities through what they say and what they do. It can also reveal
their motivation. However, a character may remain stable in his view and
dispositions from the beginning to the end, but they may also unstable or have
gradual development as the result of an extreme crisis (1981: 20-21).Based on the explanations above, the writer can see that the characters in
the novel can develop their characteristics if there are change conditions in their
life or the settings changing around them. They have to adapt and overcome
problems that happen in their new environment.C. Theoretical Framework
As explained before, the theory of characters and characterization is a theory
that is used to analyze the characters based on the characters’ dialogue and actions
and to analyze how the characters are characterized. Then, in this thesis, the writer
uses the theory of character and characterization in order to analyze the
personalities of the characters in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. The writer
will analyze the characters from their dialogue in the novel. In addition, the main
reason the writer uses this theory is because by using this theory, the writer will be
able to analyze the characters in The Railway Children. The theory of characters
gives description how to judge the characters, so we can get clear description
about the personalities of the characters in the novel.Then, in this thesis, the writer will also use theory of characterization as one
of theories in this thesis because from this theory, the writer is able to analyze how
the characters are described in the novel. Therefore, the writer can analyze how
the characters are described in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children and how their
characteristics develop.Besides the theory character and characterization, the writer will also use
theory on setting. In A Handbook to Literature by Holman and Harmon, it is
stated that the setting is not merely time or place but sometimes it refers to the
spiritual and social condition where the story takes place. Meanwhile, according
to Murphy, there are three kinds of setting of place those are familiar, unfamiliar
and imaginary place. Besides, there are four kinds of setting of time those are
present, past, future and no specific time. The setting of the story also has
important role that can influence the plot of the story and the attitude of the
characters in the story. In this thesis, the writer uses theory of setting because by
using this theory, the writer is able to analyze the setting of place of this novel that
is where this novel is set and how the condition of the social life in novel titled
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit. Besides, the writer can also see whether
the setting of place in the novel influence the attitude of the characters or the way
of thinking of the characters in the novel.The last theory that the writer uses in this thesis is theory on characters
development. For analyzing the characters development, the writer uses some
theories and combines it. The first theory is by M.J Murphy that mentions that the
setting where and when the characters live can give great influences toward
characters and determine the characteristics of the characters. Then, as the second
theory, the writer uses Reaske’s theory in his book How to Analyze Drama. He
mentions that there are two kinds of characters that are active characters who are
dynamic and passive characters who are static. Besides, their can change their
behaviors based on the events that happen. Next, Barnet’s theory which state that
there are some factors to see the characters that are what the characters say, what
the characters do, what other characters say about the character, and what others
do. The last theory is by Abrams who state that the characters can be stable or
unstable based on the extreme crisis that happen around them. The writer uses
those theories in order to analyze the development of the major characters in Edith
Nesbit’s The Railway Children. First, the writer will analyze whether the major
characters in The Railway Children develop their characteristics or behaviors or
not. Then, the writer will also analyze what makes their characteristics develop.
Therefore, by using these theories, the writer will be able to know how the setting
of place in The Railway Children can influence the major characters’
development.