POLLY’S PERSONALITY CHANGES AS SEEN IN AT RISK BY ALICE HOFFMAN
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POLLY’S PERSONALITY CHANGES AS SEEN IN
AT RISK BY ALICE HOFFMAN
A Thesis Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Desi Kristiani
Student Number: 011214042
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2007
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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I wrote, does not contain the works or parts of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 26 July 2007 The writer
Desi Kristiani 011214042
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This thesis is dedicated to Bapak Tugirin Ibuk Endang
Sari
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, my greatest gratitude is addressed to the Owner of the Universe,
Jesus Christ for His blessing, patience, love, and grace so I could able to finish my
thesis. He always gives me the best thing in my life and guides me back to His arms. I thank Him for giving me life.
My deep gratitude goes to my major sponsor, Dra. Wigati Y. Modouw, M.
Hum. and my co sponsor Yohana Veniranda, S. Pd., M. Hum. I must thank them for
their guidance, correction, support, patience, and suggestion.My special gratitude goes to Bapak Tugirin, Ibuk Endang, and my sister, Sari for their love, kindness, patience, and prayers. I try to be the best that I can.
The same gratitude goes to my friends in English Education Program ’01: Adis,
Shinta, Venta, Widya, Ella, Dyah, Niken, Naomi, Sito, Tuty, Icha, Widi. I thank them
for the great moments and their help during my study. For my SPD team “Prima Vista”,
Asri, Prima, Inul, Pompom, Sapto, and Lingga, I thank them for accepting me as a part
of the team.I also thank my friends in Komisi Pemuda GKJ Sarimulyo. I thank them for teaching me to be a tough woman. My deep gratitude is also addressed to Ibu Farsijana
Adeney-Risakotta, Ph.D. I really thank her for the opportunity to work with her and
always support me to finish my study.I would also like to thank Anna. I thank her for being so helpful to me. My thanks also goes to Arex. His presence means a lot for me I thank him for the moment
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My thanks also go to Decki Firmansyah. I thank him for loving me and giving his support to complete my thesis.
Last but not least, my sincere thanks would also go to all PBI lecturers, mbak Danik, and mbak Tari and the librarians.
The Writer
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE …………………………………………………………………..
2.1.1. Theory of Literature ……………………………………………. i ii iii iv v vi viii xi xii
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6
4
4
3
3
1
1
2.1. Theoretical Review ………………………………………………………..
PAGE OF APPROVAL ………………………………………………………. BOARD OF EXAMINERS …………………………………………………… STATEMENTS OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……………………………… PAGE OF DEDICATION ……………………………………………………..
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDY …………………………..
1.5. Definition of Terms ……………………………………………………….
1.4. Benefits of the Study ……………………………………………………...
1.3. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………………...
1.2. Objectives of the Study …………………………………………………...
1.1. Background of the Study ………………………………………………….
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………….
ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………………...
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………... TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………... ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………….......
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2.1.2. Theory of Critical Approach ……………………………………
9
2.1.3. Theory of Personality Changes …………………………………
10 2.2. Criticism …………………………………………………………………..
13 2.3. Theoretical Review …………………..........................................................
14 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY …………………………………………...
16 3.1. Subject Matter …………………………………………………………….
16 3.2. Approaches ………………………………………………………………..
17 3.3. Procedure ………………………………………………………………….
17 CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS …………………………………………………....
4.1. The Description of Polly Farrell’s Character ……………………………..
19 4.1.1. Caring …………………………………………………………...
19 4.1.2. Responsible ……………………………………………………...
20 4.1.3. Proud …………………………………………………………….
22 4.1.4. Positive Thinking ………………………………………………..
24 4.1.5. Wise and Patient ………………………………………………...
25 4.2. The Personality Changes ………………………………………………….
27 4.2.1 Possessive ………………………………………………………..
28
4.2.2. Partial ……………………………………………………………
29 4.2.3. Forgiving ……………………………………………………......
32
4.2.4. Introvert …………………………………………………………
33
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CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ………………….... Page
5.1. Conclusions ……………………………………………………………….39 5.2. Suggestions ………………………………………………………………..
39 5.2.1. Suggestion for Further Researchers ……………………………..
40
5.2.2. Suggestions for the Implementation of Teaching ………
41 5.2.2.1 Teaching Extensive Reading through Literature ……...
41 5.2.2.2 Teaching Speaking Using At Risk ……………………..
42
43 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………..
APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………
44 Appendix 1. Summary of the At Risk ………………………………………….
45 Appendix 2. The Biography of Alice Hoffman ………………………………..
46 Appendix 3. Information about AIDS ………………………………………....
47 Appendix 4. Lesson Plan of Extensive Reading II …………………………….
50 Appendix 5. Lesson Plan of Speaking IV ……………………………………..
53 Appendix 6. Material for Teaching Extensive Reading II …………………….
55
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ABSTRACT
Kristiani, Desi. 2007. Polly’s Personality Changes As Seen in Alice Hoffman’s At
Risk. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teachers
Training and Education Study Program, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study concerns with the personality changes of one of the characters as influenced by the changes of significant people in Alice Hoffman’s At Risk. The character in the novel, Polly Farrell, experiences changes in her personality. Polly’s personality changes are influenced by the change of significant person. The change of significant person is the illness of the daughter. It is interesting to discuss the personality changes since every individual has his or her own personality but the condition of people who live around him or her can influence him or her to change the personality.
There are two problems related to the topic of the thesis (1) How is Polly’s personality described? (2) What are Polly’s personality changes? In order to answer the problems, a psychological approach is applied because this study concerns with the analysis of the personality changes that are influenced by the changes of significant people. The theory of literature such as the theory of character and characterization is used to answer the first problem. Then, the theory of personality changes is used to analyze Polly’s personality changes.
After analyzing the novel, two main conclusions are drawn. The first conclusion describes Polly’s personality. Before knowing the illness, Polly was a caring, responsible, proud, positive thinking, wise and patient person. The second conclusion is about the changes of Polly’s personalities. The illness makes Polly becomes a possessive, partial, forgiving, and introvert person.
Some suggestions are given to future researchers to analyze this novel further. Parts of the novel can be applied in English teaching and learning activity, especially in teaching Extensive Reading II and Speaking IV.
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ABSTRAK
Kristiani, Desi. 2007. Polly’s Personality Changes As Seen in At Risk by Alice
Hoffman. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Keguruan
dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.Studi ini membahas perubahan kepribadian dari tokoh utama yang dipengaruhi oleh perubahan yang terjadi dari orang-orang terdekat dalam novel Alice Hoffman, At
Risk. Tokoh dalam novel, Polly Farrel mengalami perubahan dalam kepribadiannya.
Perubahan itu dipengaruhi oleh perubahan yang terjadi dari orang-orang terdekat. Perubahannya adalah penyakit yang diderita oleh putrinya. Sangatlah menarik membahas perubahan kepribadiannya karena setiap individu memiliki kepribadiannya masing-masing tetapi kondisi orang-orang disekitarnya dapat mempengaruhi perubahan kepribadiannya.
Ada dua rumusan masalah dalam studi ini. Yang pertama adalah bagaimana Polly digambarkan dalam novel. Yang kedua adalah bagaimana pengaruh penyakit yang diderita putrinya pada perubahan kepribadian Polly.
Untuk menjawab pertanyaan, pendekatan psikologi digunakan karena skripsi ini berhunungan dengan bagaimana menganalisa perubahan kepribadian yang dipengaruhi oleh perubahan yang terjadi dari orang-orang yang terdekat. Teori kesusastraan seperti teori watak dan teori perwatakkan digunakan untuk menjawab permasalahan pertama. Kemudian teori perbahan kepribadian digunakan untuk menganalisa perubahan yang terjadi pada kepribadian Polly.
Setelah menganalisa novel, ada dua kesimpulan yang didapat. Kesimpulan pertama menjelaskan tentang perwatakkan Polly. Sebelum mengetahui tentang penyakit yang diderita putrinya, Polly adalah seorang yang perhatian, bertanggung jawab, tinggi hati, berpikiran positif, bijaksana, dan sabar. Kesimpulan kedua adalah bagaimana pengaruh penyakit yang diderita anaknya pada perubahan kepribadian Polly. Mempunyai seorang putri yang menderita AIDS mengubah Polly menjadi orang yang posesif, pilih kasih, pemaaf, dan tertutup.
Beberapa saran diberikan untuk penulis masa datang untuk menganalisa novel ini lebih dalam. Novel ini juga dapat digunakan dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris terutama dalam kelas Extensive Reading II dan kelas Speaking IV.
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of five parts. Those parts are background of the study,
problem formulation, objective of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms. Background of the study contains the reason of the writer for choosing the novel as the subject of this study. Problem formulation deals with some problems, which will be discussed in this study. Objectives of the study explain the aims of this study.
Benefits of the study discuss the benefits of this study. Definition of terms contains the description of crucial terms used.
1.1 Background of the Study
Literature has become a part of human life for a long time. Literature has some different forms and those forms have their own characteristics. According to Rohrberger, there are four modern literary terms; they are short stories, novels, poems, and plays (1971:19).
In this study, the writer would like to discuss a novel. Van De Laar and Schoonderwoerd say, “a novel is a work of art in as far as introduces us into a living world, in some respect resembling the world we live” (1958:163). A novel becomes a media in getting pleasure. By reading a novel, the readers can take some moral values. Through the moral values from the novel, the readers can enrich their knowledge and their experience.
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they feel to the readers. The readers will be able to catch what the authors want to convey if the readers understand the characters, theme, setting, plot, conflict, style, and the point of view. Characters take an important role in the novel; it makes the story more alive.
Since the author uses characters in real life in the story, the writer feels interesting to analyze it. Every person has his or her own personality. The personality between one people to another is different. It makes the personality so unique. As a human being, we have passed some stages in our life. People will have past, present, and future. Along with the stages we will pass, the personality might change. The personality changes are not only because of human growth, but there are others aspects.
Personality could change because of the changes of significant people. Illness can be one cause of the changes in significant people, for example AIDS. At Risk is one of the novels that use AIDS as the theme of the novel.
At Risk is one of the literary works of Alice Hoffman. She has written some novels,
short fictions, and books for children. At Risk is one example of novel that tells about the personality changes because of the significant person. At Risk was written on 1988.
It tells about the Farrells. Polly and Ivan Farrell are a couple with two kids, Amanda, an eleven year old, a gymnast, and Charlie, an eight year old, a bright boy interested in science. The family lives in Morrow, Massachusetts. The story starts when Amanda got an AIDS when she had blood transfusion five years earlier. Slowly, Amanda’s illness emerges changes in the family.
Polly, as a mother, has to face the bad situation. She has to prepare losing her
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be cured. Even though Polly still has Charlie, her son, but her world will not be complete anymore. Two is better than one. To imagine that she will lose her daughter becomes a pressure for her.
The pressure from the society also makes her depressed. When the community knows Amanda’s illness, they start to reject her. The parents in where Amanda goes to school do not allow her to join the learning and teaching activity. The family has to survive from the rejection of the community. Her partner, Betty, does not allow her son to play with Charlie. Betty also prepares to stop their business relationship. The situation is hard for Polly and she has to handle by herself.
The condition that is emerged by Amanda’s illness makes the changes in Polly’s personality. The point that the writer would like to analyze is Polly’s personality changes. The problem that Polly has to face is so real, so close with our lives. We can find such problem in our community, and that is the reason why the writer would like to analyze it. Hopefully by reading this novel the reader will get the moral values and a description of people who is living with AIDS and. One of them is not keep a distance with the victim. They have already suffered with the illness and do not make it worse by rejecting them.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
This study aims to find out how Polly Farrell’s character is described in the novel. The second aim is to seek the changes on Polly’s personality caused by her daughter illness. Therefore, this study will focus on Polly’s character and her personality
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1.3 Problem Formulation
Based on the previous background, the problems can be formulated as follows:
1. How is Polly’s personality described?
2. What are Polly’s personality changes?
1.4 Benefits of the Study
Through this study, there are some benefits can be acquired. First, the writer will get better understanding related to the characters and the personalities. Those understanding will improve the writer’s knowledge in literary. Second, the students of English Education Study Program can use the topic of this study as an alternative material in teaching learning activities. Third, the other writers can use this study as a source or as a comparative study. Fourth, we can learn the moral value, i.e. that is not to keep a distance with the AIDS’s victims and try to respect them.
1.5 Definition of Terms
1. Character Abrams defined “character” as the persons presented in a dramatic narrative work, who are interpreted by reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say, the dialogue, and by what they do or the action (1981:20).
2. Personality “Personality” is the whole integrated pattern of behavior, which distinguishes
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(Lazarus, 1976: 9). Meaning to say that personality becomes tool to differentiate between one people to another because of its uniqueness.
3. Changes Hurlock in Personality Development states, “change” means to alter or vary; it does not necessary mean that the alteration or variation will be complete (1974: 108).
4. Personality Changes Hurlock (1974: 108) proposed “personality changes” as the personality pattern, which can change in some areas and remain persistent in other as well. The changes itself is not synonymous with the improvement but can either for the better or for the worse. Therefore, personality changes are the changes of human behavior in dealing with the way they adjust to the world.
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CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter is divided into three parts. First part is the criticism for the novel
and the source of this study. Second is the review of related theories, contain the theories to analyze the novel. Third is the framework, it is used to guide in answering the problem formulations.
2.1 Theoretical Review
Theoretical review consists of four parts, which are the theory of literature, the theory of critical approach and the theory of personality changes. Theory of literature explains the meaning of character and characterization. Theory of critical approach discusses the used approach, and theory of personality changes is used to analyze the changes on the personality.
2.1.1 Theory of Literature
The theory of literature has a purpose to make easier the process of analyzing the novel. Theory of character and characterization help to recognize the characters that exist along the story in the novel.
2.1.1.1 Theory of Character
The story of the novel conveys through a character. A character conveys the
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The writer would like to use the theory of character as stated by Stanton, Holman and Harmon, and Foster.
Stanton (1965: 17-18) divides the characters based on their roles into two. They are major or central character and minor character. A major or central character is a character that may dominate the whole story and is presented frequently to develop the main story that will never be developed by him. A minor character is presented to explain and help the other characters especially the major character. He may do important character in the story, yet he is still to be a minor character to help the major or other characters.
Holman and Harmon (1986: 83) divide character into static and dynamic. A static character is the one who changes little or who does not change at all. Until the end of the story, he/she remains as he/she is in the beginning of the story. It means that the actions and problems happen on him/her does not influence him/her to develop his/her characteristic and his/her way of thinking. On the contrary, dynamic character is the one who changes very often. The character may change to a better character or to a worse character. The changes occur because of the action and the experience that happens to him/her. Some aspects that may changes are behavior, way of thinking, the appearance, and disposition.
Foster, cited in Abrams (1981: 23-24) clarifies a character into two types, namely flat character and round character. A flat character presents without much individualizing detail and with a little change or does not change at all. The character can be described in a single phase or sentence. A round character has complex aspects
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2.1.1.2 Theory of Characterization
To get the description of Polly’s character, the writer also uses the theory of characterization. The writer presents the theory of characterization by Redman and Murphy. By using the theory, the writer is able to get Polly’s characterization clearly.
According to Redman (1964: 363), characterization is the development of a character through what he/she says and does and through what other characters say about him.
Murphy (1972:161-173) mentions nine methods of how the author reveals the character’s traits. The first method is personal description. In this method, the author describes the character through the person’s appearance and clothes. The readers are given the telling details, such as the skin, the eyes, the face, and the character’s extraordinary clothing. The way he/she wears can show his/her personality.
The second method is character as seen by another. Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe him/her through the eyes and opinion of another. The readers understand the character through the others character’s opinion.
The third method is through the character’s speech. The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the person in the book through what the person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he/she is in conversation with another, whenever he/she puts forward an opinion, he/she is giving the readers some clues to his/her character.
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The fourth method is through the character’s past life. The author can give the reader clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character by letting the readers learn something about a person’s past life.
The fifth method is conversation of others. The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him. People’s talking about other people often gives a clue to the character of the person spoken about.
The sixth method is through the character’s reactions. The author can detect person’s character from how that person reacts to various situations and events.
His/her personality can be shown by the character’s reaction in facing a problem or a situation.
The seventh method is through the direct comment from the author. The author can describe or gives comment on a person’s character directly. The clue about the character’s personality is given through the author’s comment on a character.
The eighth method is through the character’s thought. The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this respect he/she is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He/she can tell us what different people are thinking.
The ninth method is mannerism. The author describes a person’s mannerisms. Habits or idiosyncrasies, which may also tell us something about his/her character.
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2.1.2 Theory of Critical Approach
There are many approaches to analyze literary works. Rohberger & Woods Jr (1971: 1-15) suggest five kinds of critical approaches. They are the formalist approach, the biographical approach, the socio cultural-historical approach, the mythopoeic approach, and the psychological approach.
The formalist approach focuses to apprehend the totality of the literary object. The biographical approach is an approach that asserts the necessity for an appreciation of the ideas and the personality of the author to an understanding of the literary object. The socio cultural-historical approach is the approach that deploys the social background and the historical background of the literary work.
The myhtopoeic approach is critics who make use of the mythopoeic frame of references seek to discover certain universally recurrent patterns of human thought that they believe find expression in significant works of art. The last approach is psychological approach, it involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns. The proponents of this approach insist that each character’s behavior could refer to psychology of human beings.
The suitable approach for this study is psychological approach because this approach can help the writer to analyze Polly’s character. Polly’s characterization can be seen from the dialogue, the third point of view, or from the author’s description. This approach also helps the writer to find Polly’s personality changes.
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2.1.3 Theory of Personality Changes
Considering the title and approaches used in the study, the writer presents some theories related with the personality changes to help us to understand the changes in Polly’s personality.
Hurlock (1976: 6) mentions that personality comes from Latin word “persona” which refers to mask. Some actors use a mask to hide their identity on their show. This dramatic technique was adopted by Romans as one appears to others, not as one actually is.
While Allport, as cited in Hurlock (1974: 137) defines personality as the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought.
Hurlock (1976: 120-122) classifies changes in the personality pattern into three major categories. First, some changes are for the better and some are for the worse. Second, some are quantitative, and some are qualitative. Third, some occur slowly, and some rapidly.
First, some changes are for the better and some are for the worse. In normal people, personality changes for the worse frequently occur at the puberty and middle age. When pronounced changes, especially for the worse, the changes should be recognized as dangerous signals
Secondly, soma changes are qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative changes, an already present trait usually a desirable one replaces an undesirable one.
Quantitative changes may create the impression that the person has changed his
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of intimate friends than in the presence of strangers or those whom he regards as his superiors, but his behavior is consistent.
The third category is that personality develops slowly and rapidly. Normally, personality changes are slow and gradual. They are slow because every change involves the breaking of a previously learned habit and the learning of new habit to replace it. Rapid changes at any age are danger signals. Changes of shortly duration are usually due to some artificial stimulation, which temporarily causes the person to forget his real self-concept and see himself, as he would like to be.
There are several causes of personality changes. According to Hurlock (1976:124-130), there are eight causes of personality changes. They are physical changes, changes in environment, changes of significant people, changes in social pressure, changes in roles, strong motivation, changes in self-concept, and psychotherapy.
Physical changes may come from maturation and decline or from illness, organic and glandular disturbance, injuries, or some other condition resulting from the person’s life pattern but unrelated to the normal changes in the body structure. Changes in environment may produce changes in the person’s self-concept and in his characteristics behavior. A change in environment will not guarantee an improvement in personality. In fact, the change may and often have the opposite effect.
Changes of significant people are the changes that happen to the closest people of someone’s life. Significant people refer to the people who live around us,
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he or she tries to adapt his pattern behavior and his attitudes, beliefs, values, and aspiration to theirs, changes in his or her personality pattern are inevitable. These changes may not be marked, nor are they always permanent. Changes in social pressure encourage changes in certain aspects of the personality. Traits, which are likely to lead to social rejection, such as shyness, bossiness, aggressiveness, and greed, are more subject to change than those, which are usually admired, such as affection, ambition, cooperativeness, and generosity.
Changes in role bring status changes within the group. One’s role may change because of a change in age. A change in one’s role may also come from changes in economic conditions. A change in role may also be due to affiliation with a new group. Strong motivation will gives changes if the motivation to improve the personality pattern is strong enough. Ordinarily, people are most strong motivated to change those traits, which they believe will improve their social relationship and earn them greater social acceptance.
Changes in the self-concept will bring about a change in the entire personality pattern. Changing one’s self-concept requires tremendous self-insight.
This means that a person must be able and willing to see himself as he actually is, not as he would like to be or others perceive him. Use of psychotherapy helps a person to gain better insight into the reasons for his unrealistically favorable or unfavorable self-concept, to realize how his self-concept affects the quality of his behavior, to achieve both the motivation and know-how to change his self-concept, to secure the guidance necessary to make his change, without upsetting the entire
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2.2 Criticism
The criticism about Alice Hoffman and her works come from many sources like daily news, magazines, and from the readers.
Alice Hoffman is an author who came from Long Island. She started to write novel at the age of twenty-one. Some of her writings are Practical Magic, Here on
Earth, and Blue Diary. Her novel has received mention as notable books of the year
by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine.
Caryn James in his review of the novel says, “If Alice Hoffman had set out to write a calculated novel, she could have done better that At Risk, the story of an 11-year-old girl, from a perfectly average middle-class family, who has AIDS.” Based on that statement, the writer can see that the novel is interesting and the novel become popular in the reader’s community.
Jayebirck, a teacher from Dallas, Texas says, “Another winner by Alice Hoffman! Every book I read of hers convinces me that she is one of our best storytellers. Hoffman tells this story with light moments and a lot of heart. I am placing this book in the basket in the teacher's lounge.” , accessed on September 24, 2006).
Publishers Weekly says, “With this moving novel, Hoffman has written a story about a family attacked by tragedy, and has given it a larger relevance by confronting one of the most frightening issues of our times. This will be a book that people will talk about and recommend.” ( accessed
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From the reviews above, the writer has a conclusion that At Risk is a favorite literary work, the novel that tells about an interesting issue in the society. The readers are able to apprehend the feeling of the victim and the family by reading the novel. The story builds the reader’s attention from the beginning and leaves the end to the reader’s hand.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
The writer would like to analyze two problems in this study. The first one is the description of Polly’s characterization. The second is the changes of Polly’s personality. In analyzing the characterization of Polly, the writer would like to employ some theories.
The first one is the theories of character and characterization. The theories present some methods to understand the character. Those theories help the writer depicting Polly’s character by her actions, and dialogue. The writer also applies the criticism towards the novel and Hoffman’s work in order to reach a greater understanding about the theory. The second is the theory of personality changes. The writer uses the theory of personality changes proposed by Hurlock. The theory helps the writer to analyze and observe the changes of Polly’s personality.
In addition, to make the analysis complete, the writer chooses to apply the psychological approach. This approach guides the writer to observe Polly’s personality changes caused by her daughter’s illness.
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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY This chapter consists of three parts, namely the subject matter, the approaches,
and the procedure. The subject matter concerns the object of this study. The approaches contain of the approaches that the writer uses in the analysis. The procedure explains the steps of analyzing the novel.
3.1 Subject Matter
The subject matter of this study is At Risk, a novel written by Alice Hoffman in 1988. The novel takes place in Morrow, Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The novel contains 219 pages and consists of 13 chapters. Hoffman’s seventh novel grew from her own fears bout AIDS, and mirrors the world of family and children. The novel was printed in 1989 by Berkley Books.
The novel is about the illness of Amanda, Farrell’s daughter. It tells the conditions of the Farrell family in facing the illness. The family consists of Ivan Farrell, an astronomer, Polly, a photographer, 8-year-old Charlie, a smart boy interested in science, and 11-year-old Amanda, a champion gymnast.
The main theme of this novel is the reaction of the family on Amanda’s illness. Slowly, the illness changes the atmosphere of the family, the personality of the family members. The writer will focus on Polly’s personality changes.
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3.2 Approach In analyzing the novel, the writer decides to apply the psychological approach.
The writer uses this approach because the aims of this study are to portray Polly’s personality and her personality changes. Personality is one of the subjects of psychology. It covers patterns of behavior, thought, and feeling. By using this approach, the Polly’s personality changes can be analyzed deeply.
3.3 Procedure
The writer took several steps to analyze this study. The first step was reading the novel over and over again. The writer tried to find the theme of the novel, what is the novel about. The focus in this study is Polly Farrel. The writer made some notes about her personal description, her thought, her mannerism, her behavior, her reactions, and her past life. The first step of the procedure ended with some formulated questions due the character’s personality.
The second step was gathering some books about the theories of literature and psychology. The writer used the theory of character and characterization, the theory of critical approach, the theory of personality changes, and the theory of AIDS.
The third step was searching the criticism of Alice Hoffman and At Risk through the internet.
The fourth step was observing Polly Farrell’s character. The writer used the theory of character by Abrams, Stanton, and Holman-Harmon, and the theory of characterization by Murphy.
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The last, the writer made conclusion of this study, suggestions for future researchers and for English teachers.
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CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS This chapter deals with the analysis of the novel. It is divided into two parts that
focus on the problem formulations stated in the first chapter. The first part aims to explain Polly’s character through the theory of character and characterization. The second part aims to find out the personality changes caused by her daughter’s illness.