THE MEANING OF PHOEBE’S LIFE AS SEEN IN KIM EDWARDS’S THE MEMORY KEEPER’S
THE MEANING OF PHOEBE’S LIFE AS SEEN IN KIM EDWARDS’S THE MEMORY KEEPER’S
DAUGHTER A Thesis Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani
Student Number: 061214025
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011
THE MEANING OF PHOEBE’S LIFE AS SEEN IN KIM EDWARDS’S THE MEMORY KEEPER’S
DAUGHTER A Thesis Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani
Student Number: 061214025
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011
Make it your ambition to lead a quite life to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
(1 Thessalonians 4:11-12) But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
I dedicate this thesis to Jesus Christ my All in all, my beloved family and friends...
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 8 June 2011 The Writer
Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani 061214025
ABSTRACT
Handayani, Exnasia Retno P. 2011. The Meaning of Phoebe’s Life as Seen in
Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Yogyakarta: English
Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.This study is to look into the meaning of one’s life as portrayed in Phoebe the main characters of Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. This novel is about the tragic life of David: his misery life is repeated through his daughter’s life, Phoebe. The main discussion in this study, therefore, deals with Phoebe’s life.
There are two problems to answer namely: (1) How are Phoebe and David depicted in the novel? (2) How is Phoebe’s life misery reflected in David’s tragedy?
This study is a library research. Two data were used in this study: primary and secondary data. The primary data is the novel The Memory Keeper’s
Daughter by Kim Edwards. The secondary data are taken from literary books,
psychology books, and the internet.In conducting this study, there are some theories used: the theory of literature, theory of character, characterization, juxtaposition, theory of psychology, and theory of personality, is used to answer the first problem. Then the theory of Motivation is used to get deeper understanding about the meaning of Phoebe’s life.
Based on the analysis, Phoebe is described as fragile, loving, stubborn, dependent, weak, brave, inconsistent, and innocent. Her character can be seen from other’s opinion. While David is described as mysterious, obedient, protective, competent, unconfident, traumatic, fragile, introvert, decision maker, loneliness, and emotional. His character can be seen from his past life and other character’s opinion. Further analysis is about Phoebe’s life that is David’s destiny.
Finally, this study provides suggestions for further researchers who are interested in analyzing Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. The future researcher may focus on Norah’s character and her action using theory of motivation. It is also recommended for English teacher to use this novel as the material to teach Prose II.
Keywords: character, misery, tragic, tragedy
ABSTRAK
Handayani, Exnasia Retno P. 2011. The Meaning Phoebe’s Life as Seen in Kim
Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Yogyakarta: Program Studi
Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.Studi ini bertujuan untuk melihat lebih dalam mengenai arti kehidupan seseorang seperti yang digambarkan dalam diri Phoebe, tokoh utama dalam novel Kim Edwards The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. Novel ini tentang kehidupan tragis David: kehidupannya yang sengsara diulang melalui kehidupan anaknya, Phoebe. Pembahasan utama dalam studi ini yaitu berhubungan dengan kehidupan Phoebe.
Ada dua rumusan masalah untuk menjawab yaitu: (1) bagaimana Phoebe dan David digambarkan dalam novel? (2) Bagaimana kesengsaraan kehidupan Phoebe dicerminkan dalam tragedi David?
Studi ini adalah penelitian perpustakaan. Dua data digunakan di dalam studi ini: data utama dan data kedua. Data utamanya adalah novel The Memory
Keeper’s Daughter karangan Kim Edwards. Data kedua diambil dari buku-buku
sastra, buku-buku psikologi, dan internet.Dalam melakukan studi ini, beberapa teori digunakan: teori sastra, teori tokoh, penokohan, penjajaran, teori psikologi, teori personality, digunakan untuk menjawab rumusan masalah pertama. Kemudian teori motivasi digunakan untuk mendapatkan pengertian yang lebih mendalam tentang arti kehidupan Phoebe.
Berdasarkan analisis, Phoebe digambarkan sebagai orang yang rentan, penyayang, keras kepala, tidak mandiri, lemah, berani, tidak konsekwen, dan lugu. Perwatakannya dapat dilihat dari pendapat orang lain. Sedangkan David digambarkan sebagai orang yang misterius, penurut, melindungi, kompeten, tidak percaya diri, trauma, rentan, tertutup, pembuat keputusan, kesepian, dan emosional. Perwatakannya dapat dilihat dari kehidupan masa lalunya dan dari pendapat orang lain. Analisis lebih lanjutnya mengenai kehidupan Phoebe yang merupakan takdir David.
Pada akhirnya, studi ini memberikan beberapa usulan kepada peneliti yang tertarik untuk menganalisis novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter karangan Kim Edwards. Peneliti selanjutnya mungkin fokus pada karakter Norah dan tindakannya dengan menggunakan teori motivasi. Ada pula saran untuk guru Bahasa Inggris untuk menggunakan novel ini sebagai materi untuk mengajar Prose II.
Kata kunci: karakter, kesengsaraan, tragis, tragedi
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani Nomor Mahasiswa : 061214025
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul: THE MEANING OF PHOEBE’S LIFE AS SEEN IN KIM EDWARDS’S THE
THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberukan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal : 9 Juni 2011 Yang menyatakan (Exnasia Retno P.H.)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In this page, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to all those who have helped and supported me throughout the process of writing this thesis.
Above all, I give my first countless gratitude to Jesus Christ who always gives me a new strength whenever I am down and weak. His spirit, guidance, and miracles never stop during the process of finishing my thesis.
My sincere gratitude goes to Drs. A. Herujiyanto, M.A., Ph.D. as my sponsor who has spared his time to guide me patiently and has helped me finishing this thesis by his comments, suggestion, advice, and criticism. I also thank all the PBI lecturers of Sanata Dharma University for the knowledge they shared with me. I would also like to thank secretariat staffs for the help, and kindness.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents, Barjo and Tri
Retno Rini, and my sister, Theodora Rafelia A, for their supports and prays
during finishing my thesis. I thank them for giving me affection throughout my life.
My special gratitude goes to my best friends Dewati, Niken, Tika,
Leonna, and Adhis for sharing, prays, supports, and sweet experiences in Sanata
Dharma University. I would like to thank to my boarding house friends Andin and Emi for their support to finish my thesis as soon as possible and questions related my thesis.
At last, I would like to thank everybody who I cannot mention one by one who has helped me and supported me in my life. I am blessed to know them all.
May God’s favor is on us.
Exnasia Retno Palupi Handayani
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................. i APPROVAL PAGES ..................................................................................... ii DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................... iv STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY .............................................. v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... vi
ABSTRAK ....................................................................................................... vii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI .............................. viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... xi LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................ xv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study .................................................................... 1 B. Objectives of the Study ...................................................................... 3 C. Problem Formulation .......................................................................... 4 D. Benefit of the Study ............................................................................ 4 E. Definition of Terms ............................................................................ 5 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Related Theories ............................................................... 8
1. Theory of Critical Approach.......................................................... 8
2. Theory of the Relation between Psychology and Literature ......... 10
3. Theory of Literature....................................................................... 11
a. Theory of Character .................................................................. 11
b. Theory of Characterization ....................................................... 12
c. Juxtaposition ............................................................................. 15
4. Theory of Psychology .................................................................... 15
a. Theory of Personality ................................................................ 15
b. Theory of Motivation ................................................................ 17
B. Theoretical Framework ...................................................................... 19
C. Context of the Novel .......................................................................... 20
1. Setting of the Novel ........................................................................ 20
2. Setting of the Writer ....................................................................... 21
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study ............................................................................. 22 B. Approach to the Study ........................................................................ 23 C. Method of the Study ........................................................................... 24 CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS A. The Description of Phoebe and David Henry .................................... 26
1. The Description of Phoebe ............................................................. 27
a. Fragile ....................................................................................... 27
b. Loving ....................................................................................... 28
c. Stubborn .................................................................................... 29
d. Dependent ................................................................................. 30
e. Innocent .................................................................................... 32
f. Inconsistent ................................................................................ 33
2. The Description of David Henry .................................................... 34
a. Character based on Her Past Life ............................................. 34 1) Mysterious .......................................................................... 34 2) Obedient .............................................................................. 35
b. David’s Character based on Other’s Opinion about David ...... 36 1) Protective ........................................................................... 37 2) Competent .......................................................................... 38 3) Unconfident ....................................................................... 39 4) Traumatic ........................................................................... 40 5) Fragile ................................................................................ 41 6) Introvert ............................................................................. 42 7) Emotional ........................................................................... 43
3. Juxtaposition ................................................................................. 44
a. Phoebe is Weak ......................................................................... 44
b. Phoebe is Brave ........................................................................ 45
c. David is Decision Maker .......................................................... 45
d. David is Lonely ......................................................................... 46
B. Phoebe’s Life Misery Reflected in David’s Tragedy ........................... 46
1. Surface Meaning ............................................................................ 47 Phoebe’s Life Brings a Tragedy .................................................... 47
2. Deeper Meaning ............................................................................ 50
Phoebe’s Life is the Repeating History of Tragic Life .................. 50
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions ........................................................................................ 52
1. Phoebe’s and David’s Character ..................................................... 52
2. Phoebe’s Life Brings a Tragedy ..................................................... 53
3. The True Meaning of Phoebe’s Life ............................................... 53
B. Suggestions ........................................................................................ 54
1. Suggestions for the Future Researchers ......................................... 54
2. Suggestions for the Teacher to Teach using Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter ...................................................
55 The Implementation of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter in Teaching Prose II .......................................................................... 55
REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 57 APPENDICES ............................................................................................... 59
LIST OF APPENDICES
Page Appendix 1: Summary of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter ............................ 59 Appendix 2: Biography of Kim Edwards......................................................... 62 Appendix 3: Lesson Unit Plan ......................................................................... 65
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of five parts. It is aimed to give a description about
the background of the study that shows the reason of choosing the novel, The
Memory Keeper’s Daughter , as the subject of the study, to identify the objectives
of the study, to limit the problem and formulate the problem into two questions, to describe the benefits of the study. In addition, this chapter also states definition of some terms that will explain about the important terms in the study.
A. Background of the Study
In literary work, the author creates the work of literature based on the experience or the reality that happens around someone environment where they live. Someone will respond their experience or the condition of the environment by expressing their ideas and feeling in their own style that is meaningful work which cannot be expressed by common people. The experience and the condition will make up into a good creation that makes the readers understand to the story because they are interacting with the text when they are reading the literary work, like Bressler (1999:7) has said that when reading, we are constantly interacting with the text. Therefore, when the readers read literary work, the author brings effect to them from the work itself so the readers could feel pleasure after reading the literary work, when we read a text to learn from it or to be entertained, we can say that we know that the text once having read it (Bressler, 1999:13).
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Since human beings are born, they will grow up from a child to adult.
They learn many things throughout their experiences that they have faced, whether in a good condition or in a difficult condition. It brings effects to the development of personal growth and it will develop their character. So, every human being has different thought and ways of living because of their different background or condition of living. They may have their own ways in responding to their conditions of living. Sarah Cirese in Quest: A Search for Self (1985: 62) said that every person is free in making decision, having commitments, taking risk within the bounds of his or her own value system. Each of them appears as an individual that continuously discovers and develops his or her own potentials as the evident of his or her personal growth. As an individual, a person deserves to reach their own goal in his or her life. It starts from the effort of someone to achieve what they want. When someone acquires means to carry out choices and believe that he or she is able to make, he or she is free to choose the way to go and to make decision of their choice because making choice is the potential factor of every person. Cirese (1985: 44) said that making choices to develop his or her talents, to extend the intellectual capacities, to strengthen interpersonal skills, to actualize physical capacities, to become all he or she can possibly be, are the sum up of personal growth.
In writing my thesis, I choose a work entitled The Memory Keeper’s
Daughter by Kim Edwards. This story is written based on someone’s true story
that has a twin who suffered Down syndrome. His twin was institutionalized at birth and kept secret from the family in all his life. He died in the institution and
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no one knew it. From the story the author develops it into a wonderful novel within the idea is a secret as the center of the family. The title The Memory
Keeper’s Daughter represents Phoebe’s life that brings tragedy in David’s life.
Life is so mysterious that it may become kind of tragedy. This is exactly what Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter expresses, the tragic life of David Henry. Based on unhappy life in the past, David planned to make other people to be prevented from having the similar unpleasant experience as same as he has been through. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out David’s memory about his daughter, Phoebe, discover from Down syndrome.
The discussions are therefore to deal with the result of his decision to hide Phoebe, as soon as he was want, from his wife. Therefore, it cannot be avoided that this study talks about David’s unpleasant past experience: losing his Down syndrome sister and the suffering experienced by his mother.
In order to do so, this study employs some theories such as the theory of character, characterization and juxtaposition, theory of psychology including theory of personality, and the theory of motivation. The approach used in this study is psychological approach.
B. Objectives of the Study
The objective of the study is to reveal the veiled life of Phoebe as portrayed in Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.
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C.
Problem Formulation
Based on the objective of the study, the problems to answer in this study are formulated as follows:
1. How are Phoebe and David depicted in the novel?
2. How is Phoebe’s life misery in David’s tragedy? D.
Benefit of the Study
It is expected to be able to encourage the readers to enjoy reading the novel better so that they will understand the meaning of the novel; the many values found in everyday life, the art of making decision, and the rules of relationship between two people.
I hope this study will help the reader reflect themselves. Making decision is very important in our life so that we have to make the best choice in our life.
We have to consider many different aspects before deciding something so there will no regret.
E. Definition of Term
To avoid misunderstanding on this study, it would be necessary for us to understand some essential terms. They are:
1. Characterization
As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven
edition), characterization is a description of the distinctive character of. While
according to Holman and Harmon in A Handbook of Literature (1986: 81),
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characterization is the ways the author reveals the characters of imaginary person in the story. It shows that characterization is the way the author presents the characters.
2. Keeper
As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven
edition), keeper is a person who manages or looks after something or someone.
This study will discuss about David Henry who keep the memory about her daughter from the photo that is sent by Caroline Gill.
3. Life
As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven
edition), life is the existence of an individual human being or animal, a particular
type or aspect of human existence. This study analyze about the meaning of Phoebe’s life according to his father, David Henry, who hide her from the family because she suffers Down syndrome.
4. Main Character
According to Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms (1985:23), he said that characters are person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say- the dialogue- and by what they do- the action. While, Reaske in The College Guide to the Study of Literature
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(1971: 169) points out that main character is inherently important and we take a long hard look on him to understand the author’s meaning. This means that the main character is one of the way in which the author conveys certain meanings. The main character in this study is David Henry, a doctor who live in tragic until the end of his life.
5. Memory
As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven
edition), memory is an individual person to remember things or the faculty by
which the mind stores and remembers information. While, Gerrig and Philip in
Psychology and life: 8th edition stated that memory is capacity to store and
retrieve information or a type of information processing. The bulk of our attention, therefore, will be trained on the flow of information in and out of the memory system that guide the acquisition and retrieval of information. In this study, memory means the memory of David Henry who hides her daughter from the family and finally he regrets his decision to gives the baby to his nurse, Caroline Gill because his decision leads his family goes to the dark life like his experience in the past.
6. Misery
As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven
edition), misery is great physical or mental distress or discomfort. This study
discuss about Phoebe’s misery when he is rejected by his father.7
7.
Tragedy
As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven
edition), tragedy is an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress or a
serious play with an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character. This study analyze the tragic life of David Henry. The tragedy happens when his daughter, Phoebe, is born as having Down syndrome. She suffers an inherited diseases that is the same as his sister had and his dark life in the past come up in his future.
8. Veil
As indicated by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven
edition), veil is a piece of fine material worn to protect or conceal the face, a thing
that conceals, disguises, or obscures. This means that the veil that covers Phoebe’s life because she is hidden from her family so that no one knows about her.
Moreover, Phoebe can survive so that the veil can be opened.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter is going to discuss about three points; those are review of
related theories, theoretical framework, and context of the novel. The first is the review related theories which are applied in the study are presented. This part is divided into four parts; they are the theory of critical approach, theory of literature, theory of character and characterization, including juxtaposition, and the theory of psychology, including theory of motivation. The second part is the framework of this study that is used to give a boundary in identifying the study.
The last part is the context of the novel that will talk about some information about the socio political situation of the setting in this story.
A. Review of Related Theories
To answer the questions stated in problem formulation, it is necessary to include some theories, which later will be connected to find the appropriate answers to problem stated in the previous chapter. Those theories used are follows:
1. Theory of Critical Approach
An understanding of what a piece of prose fiction communicates and how it achieves that communication is vital to a critical approach (Rohrberger and Woods 1971: 19). In order to understand about the meaning of Phoebe’s life in
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter , we need some approaches to analyze it.
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Rohrberger and Woods in their book entitled Reading and Writing about
Literature (1971: 6-15), provide five approaches as means of observing a novel
critically. These approaches are to provide the means to understand the positive aesthetic value of literary work.
The first is The Formalist Approach. This approach is to apprehend the totality of the literary object itself and esthetic meanings. The formalist critic examines the literary pieces without reference to facts of the author’s life, without reference to the genre or in literary history, and without reference to its social milieu.
The second is The Biographical Approach. This approach asserts the necessity for an appreciation of the ideas and personality of the author to an understanding of the literary object. This approach attempts to learn as much as about the life and development of the author.
The third is Socio cultural - Historical Approach. This approach insists that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilizations that produces it and define civilization as the attitudes and action of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter.
The fourth is The Mythopoeic Approach. This approach is seek to discover certain universally recurrent patterns of human thought which they believe find expression in significant works of art. The universally recurrent that is assert are those that found first expression in ancient myths and folk rites and human thought.
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The fifth is The Psychological Approach. This approach involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns and draws on a different body of knowledge. The psychological approach examine about human motivation, personality, and behavior pattern written in literary works.
To conduct this study, I used the psychological approach based on the theory of psychology. Psychological approach analyzes the character in the novel deeper psychologically so that this study is conducted through psychology point of view. The analysis of this study tries to find the answer of the questions, such as, why the character that is depicted in this novel has such kind of personality and how the one’s character is reflected in other’s character. The result of those questions will be the result of this study.
2. Theory of the Relation between Psychology and Literature
Literature derived from the Latin Littera, meaning “letter,” the root meaning of literature refers primarily to the written word and seems to support this broad definition (Bressler, 1999:9). Recognizing that there is a close relation between literature and psychology, Kalish in The Psychology of Human Behavior (1973:8) implies that “literature holds the mirror up to the man.” A good writer or novelist can communicate the feeling of their characters and make them seem more life-like than the real people whose behavior the psychologist to enrich stories, and psychologist can gain in their understanding of human behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good author. As the relationship between
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literature and psychology is closely established, it can be said that the analysis of literary works may reflect certain psychological factors.
As psychology is a body of knowledge which studies human psyche, the most related element of literature to psychology is its human or human-like characters. Referring to Barnet’s explanation about character in Literature for
Composition that a character is a figure with specific mental and moral qualities, it
is obvious that characters are observable trough psychology, in terms that they consist of unique mental qualities (1988:71).
3. Theory of Literature a. Theory of Character The writer thinks that character is the basic element of the literary work.
According to Abrams in his book entitles A Glossary of Literary Terms states that: Characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed a moral, distortional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue- and what they do-in the action. The grounds in the characters’ temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation (1985:23).
Another definition of character is stated by Stanton in An Introduction to
Fiction (1965: 17), the term ‘Character’ is used in two ways: firstly, it gives a
particular description about the individuals who appear in the story and secondly, it refers to the mixture of interests, desires, emotions, and moral principles that from the individuals. Every story usually has a main character that is significant to
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all events in the story; usually they cause the conversation either in him or in the readers’ attitude toward him.
According to Ferster in Arguing through Literature (2005:81), there are two kinds of characters; those are flat character and rounded character. Flat characters tend to be simpler; they are defined by one or two traits, say the same thing repeatedly, or embody an ethnic, gender, or some other stereotype. Rounded characters, which are more complex, tend to have a fuller range of thoughts, feelings, or actions, perhaps even in conflict with each other, and might grow, change, or learn something. This is not to say that real people can be one-sided, but it is possible to know only one side of a person (Rohrberger and Woods 1971: 20) in Reading and Writing about Literature. Rohrberger and Woods also stated that characters must be credible, that is, readers must accept them as believable people. Characters have particular personalities and physical attributes that distinguish them from other characters.
b. Theory of Characterization
According to Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing about
Literature (1971: 20), the process by which an author creates a character is called
characterization. There are two principal ways an author can characterize, those are direct means to describe physical appearance and dramatic means and place one character in situation to show the way to speak and behavior.
This paper will analyze the characterizations of two of the characters in Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Phoebe and David Henry.
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According to Holman and Harmon in A Handbook of Literature (1986):81), characterization is the ways the author reveals the characters of imaginary person in the story. It shows that characterization is the way the author presents the character. The character we encounter through literature are defined by what they think and say, what other characters and the narrator say about them, what they do, and what they look like (Ferster, 2005:80) in Arguing Through Literature.
Murphy’s Understanding Unseen: an introduction to English Poetry and
the English Novel for overseas Student gives more detail techniques of
characterization. It mentions nine techniques of characterization used by author to describe the characters of story (1972:161-173). The techniques are: 1) Personal description
An author uses this method particularly to give the description of character face, body, and the other physical appearances.
2) Character as seen by another Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe a character through the eyes and opinions of others.
3) Speech The author gives the readers an insight into the character of one of the person in the book through what the person says.
4) Past life By letting the readers learn about a character’s past life, the author can give the clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done
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by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his conversation, or through the medium of another person.
5) Conversation of others The author can also give the readers clues to a persons’ character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about her/ him.
6) Reaction The author can give the readers a clue to a person’s character by letting the readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events.
7) Direct comment The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.
8) Thoughts The author can give the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. In this aspect, he or she is able to do what we cannot do in real life. The reader then is in privileged position: he has, as it were, a secret listening device plugged into the inmost thoughts of a person in his or her novel.
9) Mannerism An author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his/ her character.
Characterization, therefore, is central to the fictional experience and the principle objective of the creation of characters in novel is to enable us to understand, and to experience, people (Henkle, 1977:86).
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c.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition is a literary device that is used as an important tool in literature to bring a dramatic effect to certain situations and thereby make more of a mark for the work of art in its entirety (Borkar, 2011). Borkar in http://www.buzzle.com/articles/juxtaposition-in-literature.html stated that juxtaposition is the placement of two concepts, characters, things, events, ideas, phrases, settings or words side by side in order to draw a contrast, create suspense, bring about a rhetorical effect, compare, or as a tool for character development. While Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (eleven edition) indicated that juxtaposition is people or things next to each other or very close together, especially to show a contrast. Juxtaposition is a theory of contrast or comparison (Rusnak, 2010).
4. Theory of Psychology a. Theory of Personality
Through the centuries, personality has been regarded as a practical force in determining success or failure in life (Hurlock, 1974:1). According to Elizabeth Hurlock there are some traditional beliefs about personality are myriad; those are the belief that personality is inherited is expressed in the saying, certain personality traits automatically accompany certain physical traits, and personality changes automatically accompany body changes.
Elizabeth Hurlock (1974:2) stated that personality is a mysterious aspect of the person that determines how he reacts to other people and how they react to
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him. While Hoyer and Roodin in Adult Development and Aging (2003: 378) stated that personality refers to a person’s distinctive patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotion.
Sigmund Freud in Gerrig and Philip in Psychology and life: 8th edition (2008: 428) stated that personality differences arise from the different ways in which people deal with their fundamental drives. To explain these differences, Sigmund Freud divided the structure of personality into three elements; those are the id, the ego, and the super ego.
The id is the storehouse of the fundamental drives. It operates irrationally, acting on impulse and pushing an expression and immediate gratification without considering whether what is desired is realistically possible, socially desirable, or morally acceptable. According to Freud in Jess and Gregory Feist in Theories of
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Personality: 6 edition (2006: 27), id is the core of personality and completely
unconscious. The id has no contact with reality, it is only satisfying basic desires because the function is to seek pleasure. Because the id seeks to satisfy the pleasure, it can be known from the ego because it brings a direct relation with the external world.
The ego is representing an individual’s personal view of physical and social reality-his or her conscious beliefs about the cause and consequences of behavior. The ego has a direct relation with the external world and it based on the reality happens, which puts reasonably choice before reasonable demands. At times the ego can control the powerful, pleasure-seeking id, but sometimes it also loses control because the ego is an activity that is gain pleasure and avoids pain.
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The third element is superego that is the storehouse of an individual’s values, including moral attitudes learned from society. It is used to represent the moral and ideal aspects of personality that is guided by the moralistic and idealistic principle. The superego has two subsystem, those are conscience and ego-ideal. Conscience develops from improper behavior and ego-ideal develops from proper behavior. Therefore, superego and id often have conflict because the superego insists on doing what is right and the id wants to do what feels good.
b. Theory of Motivation
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Abraham Maslow in Jess and Gregory Feist in Theories of Personality: 6
edition (2006: 277) has assumption about motivation. The first assumption is
holistic approach to motivation that is the whole person is motivated. The second is motivation is usually complex, which is a person’s behavior may spring from several separate motives. And the third is people are continually motivated by one need or another.
Maslow proposed that human desires (motives) are innate and that they are arranged in an ascending hierarchy of priority or potency. The hierarchy of needs is used to explain how those needs may motivate us. Jess and Gregory Feist says that Maslow’s hierarchy needs concept assumes that lower level needs must be satisfied or at least relatively satisfied before higher level needs become motivators (278).
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Maslow’s hierarchy needs concept is listed as follows: 1) Psychological Needs
The most basic needs of any person are psychological needs, including food, water, oxygen, maintenance of body temperature, and so on. Maslow said that psychological needs differ from other needs in at least two important respects. The first, they are only needs that can be completely satisfied or even overly satisfied. The second characteristic peculiar to psychological needs is their recurring the nature. 2) Safety Needs
When people have partially satisfied their psychological needs, they become motivated by safety needs, including physical security, stability, dependency, protection, and freedom from threatening forces such as war, terrorism, illness, fear, anxiety, danger, chaos, and natural disaster. Safety needs cannot be overly satisfied. Most of adults satisfy their safety needs most of the time so that make these needs relatively unimportant (279).