II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE - An Analysis Of The Main CHaracters Found In Jennifer Armstrongs"s Novel Steal Away
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Literature
Rees (1973: 2) says, “Literature, we may now agree, is writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards life”. Taylor (1981:1) says, “Literature, like other arts, is essentially an imaginative act, that is, and act of the writer’s imagination in selecting, ordering, and interpreting life- experience”. Taylor (1981:1) also says that literature reflects or comments on actual experience; social, philosophical, psychological and moral concerns are inescapable.
Rees and Taylor tell us the same about literature, but they write in difference style. Furthermore Taylor (1981:1) says “In the case of literature, words are the medium of expression and it makes little difference whether those words are recorded in the living memory of a people or by some mechanical means such as writing, sound recording, etc.” It means that language is the medium of literature. Actions, characters, and settings are the basic elements of literature and language merely expresses these larger entities which combine to form a literary composition (Taylor 1981:12). Narrative fiction, drama, and poetry are three major genre divisions of literature. There are many subdivisions of narrative fiction, but they are divided into two; traditional and modern narrative fiction. Folk tale, epic, romance, allegory, and satire belong to traditional, novel and short story belong to modern narrative fiction.
2.2 Novel
In this thesis, novel is the source of the data. Richard (1981:46) says that novel is a prose work with a quite length complexity which attempts to reflect an express something of the quality of value of human experience or conduct. And according to Peck (1984:102), most novels are concerned with ordinary people and their problems in the societies in which they find themselves. It means that novel present a documentary picture of life. Peck (1984: 103) adds that novels, however, are long works with a great amount of detail on every page. They thus present all the complicating facts that need to be taken into account before we can reach any sort of judgment. The effect of this detail is what we come to recognize the complex reality of a character or event in the story.
A novel should not be read as the newspaper or even the magazine. A novel should be formulated with the aspects of novel. It means that novel is made up by intrinsic and extrinsic elements. According to Wellek and Warren (1956) in Melani Budianta (1990:82-134), extrinsic elements include author’s biography, psychology, and social condition. And Nurgiyantoro (1995:23) tells that intrinsic elements include plot, theme, setting, characters, point of view, and style.
In a well-done story, all the actions or incidents, speeches, thoughts, and observations are linked together to make up an entirety, sometimes called an organic unity. The essence of this unity is the development and resolution of a conflict, in which the protagonist, or central character, is engaged. The pattern in which the protagonist meets and resolves the conflict is called the plot, which has been compared to the story’s map, scheme, or blueprint. The plot is based on the interactions of causes and effects as they develop sequentially or chronologically. There should be a beginning, middle and an end.
Setting in the novel consists of setting of the time, setting of the place, and social setting. Setting of the time shows the day, the season, and the period. Setting of the place shows inside or outside, country or city, real or fictional. Social setting shows the society, or social conditions include economic and politic condition around characters.
Characters in a novel are the vehicles by which the author conveys to us his or her view of the world. We learn about individual characters form their own words and actions; from what other characters say about hem and the way others act towards them characters help to advance the plot and characters must grow and change in response to their experiences in the novel.
Theme is the central idea which runs through the novel; the author’s purpose in writing. There may be a moral in the story – such as the need for social reform in many of Dickens’ novels. It is the message that author wishes to convey or the lesson author wants the reader to learn. Theme is revealed through the value of characters when confronting obstacles and resolving conflict in pursuit of their goal. It can be considered the foundation and purpose of your novel. Without purpose, the story becomes trivial.
The theme gives the story focus, unity, impact and a ‘point’. The theme becomes clear by looking at what happens to the major characters. If the main character survives while others do not, it shows us that the author is rewarding his (or her) behavior.
Point of view is who is telling the story. This can be done several ways. In first person, one character is speaking in the “I” voice. Second person, which uses “you,” is the least common point of view. Third person, who can be handled in a variety of ways, is the most often used method. In third person limited, the narrator can only go inside the head of the character telling the story. This requires the characters to be in every scene, which must be told through their eyes. Third person omniscient gives the author the most freedom. Using this, the author can have different point of view characters for different scenes.
The medium of fiction and of all literature is language, and the manipulation of language, the style is the primary skill of the writer. A mark of a good style is active verbs, and nouns that are specific and concrete. Even with the most active and graphic diction possible, writers can never render their incidents and scenes exactly, but they may be judged on how vividly they tell their stories.
2.3 Character
In this thesis I will focus to character, one of intrinsic element of novel especially main characters. Barnet (1983: 71) says, “Character has meaning as a figure in a literary work”. (Bonazza 1982:3) says “Character refers to one of the persons in the story-the end result of the author’s effort to create a fictional personality.” (Peck 1984: 105) says “The people in a novel are referred to as character.” From those statements, we can see that Barnet, Bonazza, and Peck have the same opinion to define the character. Character is a person who is responsible for the thoughts and action within a story, poem, or other literature. Characters are extremely important because they are the medium through which a reader interacts with a piece of literature. Every character has his or her own personality, which a creative author uses to assist in forming the plot of a story or creating a mood. The different attitudes, mannerisms, and even appearances of characters can greatly influence the other major elements in a literary work, such as theme, setting, and tone. With this understanding of the character, a reader can become more aware of other aspect of literature, such as symbolism, giving the reader a more complete understanding of the work. The character is one the most important tools available to the author. Authors take an indirect approach by indicating how their characters look and act, what they think and say, how they live and how other characters regard them.
It is, of course, not possible to have action without character; events are determined by character and character is also defined by events. The author, of course, arranges the events of novel with characters. Gill (1985:79) says, “An author can use letters, can rely on the conversation of characters, can write about characters’ thoughts, can concentrate on the expressions on characters’ faces, can employ a number of characters who tell the story from their point of view, and can invite the reader to have doubts about the reliability of the one who is telling the story”. It means that, in fiction, a character may be defined as a verbal representation of a human being. The glossary of term defines a character as a person presented in a dramatic or narrative work and characterization is the process by which a writer makes that character seem real to the reader. Through action, speech, description, and commentary, authors portray characters that are worth caring about, rooting for, and even loving, although there are also characters we may laugh at, dislike, or even hate.
Character and characterization are closely related but essentially different concepts. Character refers to one of the persons in the story, the end result of the author’s effort to create a fictional personality. Characterization on the other hand, refers to the means by which the writer creates the sum of traits, thoughts, and actions which, taken together, constitute a character.
2.3.1 Main character and Peripheral character
Character is the part of intrinsic element in the novel that is firstly explored by the writer because it takes essential role to display any behavior of each character in the novel. Referring to their degree of playing role in the novel, they can be grouped into two parts such as main and peripheral character. According to Nurgiyantoro (2005: 176-177), main character is “Tokoh utama adalah tokoh yang
diutamakan penceritaannya dalam novel yang bersangkutan. Ia merupakan tokoh
yang paling banyak diceritakan, baik sebagai pelaku kejadian maupun yang dikenai
kejadian.” Through quotation, it can be mentioned that main character is kind of
character, which often shows up repeatedly as if it dominates every parts of the events in the novel. Regarding to the meaning of active-passive in doing something, both of them can act as a subject that has capability in doing something or as an object that suffers the impact from treatment done by the subject or circumstances. In the other words, a main character does not only act subject but also as object. This kind of character plays important role in the novel and it cannot be ignored. The main character of a story represents the audience’s personal perspective into the story. Through this perspective, we the audiences get to experience what it would be like personally to experience the story’s problems.
Because of the main character is most told in the story and always relate with the other characters, he or she is very determining the development of whole plot. He always present as figure that hit by incident or conflict. On the other hand, peripheral characters just support or complete the story. So, when we make a synopsis, we tell about main character, while peripheral characters usually ignored. Main character may or may not be the protagonist. At the end of every complete story, the main character will be faced with an important decision: either continues to solve problems the way he or she always has, or change their approach and attempt to solve the problem differently. If they maintain their approach they are said to be Steadfast. If they adopt a new paradigm, they are said to be Change. This central character is defined as change because during the moment of crisis, they usually drop their approach to solving the story’s problems and adopt a new one. This change in no way guarantees a success.
Main character in the novel may more than one person, although the superiority degree not always same. For example in the novel Steal Away, found two main characters, Susannah and Bethlehem. These characters will be discussed in this thesis. And of course we may find many peripheral characters in the novel, for example Free, Mary, Uncle Reid, Aunt Reid, Fidelia, Byron, Mary’s mother, Mary’s father, Lizer, Nahum, Anna Tuke, Given, Mrs. Tuke, and Dorothea Tuke, which also found in novel Steal Away as the source of this thesis.
2.3.2 Round and Flat character
The British novelist and critic E. M Foster in his critical work Aspects of the
Novel , distinguishes between round and flat character, E.M. Foster, (1993:47:54)
says, “Flat characters are constructed round a single idea or quality and can be expressed in a single sentence; round characters are multi-faceted and unpredictable.” “For foster, the test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way both flat and round characters can coexist in the some novel. Flat characters have advantage of being easily recognized and convenient for their creators.”
The basic trait of round characters is that they recognize, change with, or adjust to circumstances. The round characters usually the main figure in a story, profits from experience and undergoes a change and alternation, which may be shown in (1) an action or actions, (2) the realization of new strength and therefore the affirmation of previous decisions, (3) the acceptance of a new condition, or (4) the discovery of unrecognized truths.
Because round they usually play a major role in a story, round characters are often called the hero or heroine. Many main characters are anything but heroic, however, and it is therefore preferable to use the more neutral word protagonist. The protagonist is central to the action, moves against an antagonist, and exhibits the ability to adapt to new circumstances. To the degree that round characters are both individual and sometimes unpredictable, and because they undergo change or growth, they are dynamic. The round characters also known as the main characters because they play a main role in a story of novel.
In contrast, flat characters do not grow. They remain the same because they may be stupid or insensitive or lacking in knowledge or insight. They are static because they end where they begin. But flat characters are not therefore worthless, for they usually highlight the development of the round characters. Usually flat characters are minor (for example relatives, acquaintances, functionaries), although not all minor characters are necessary flat.
Sometimes flat characters are prominent in certain types of literature, such as cowboy, police, and detective stories, where the focus is less on character than on performance. These kinds of characters might be lively and engaging, even though they do not develop or change. They must be strong and clever enough to perform recurring tasks like solving a crime, overcoming a villain, or finding a treasure. The term stock characters refer to character in these repeating situations. To the degree that stock characters have many common traits, they are representative of their class, or group. Such characters, with variation in manes, ages, and sexes, have been contrast in literature since the ancient Greeks. Some regular stock characters are the insensitive father, the interfering mother, the sassy younger sister or brother, the greedy politician, the resourceful cowboy or detective, the overbearing or henpecked husband, the submissive or nagging wife, the angry police captain, the lovable drunk, and the town do-gooder.
Stock characters stay flat as long as they merely perform their roles and exhibit conventional and unindividual traits. When they possess no attitudes except those of their class, they are labeled stereotype, because they all seem to be cast from the same mold or printing matrix.
When authors bring characters into focus, however, no matter what roles they perform, they emerge from flatness and move into roundness. It means that the ability to grow and develop, to be altered by circumstances, makes characters round; absence of these traits makes characters flat.
2.3.3 Protagonist and Antagonist characters
There are two order important terms to keep in mind of description people: protagonist and antagonist. A protagonist is considered to be the main character or lead figure in a novel, play, story, or poem. It is referred to as the “hero” of a work with whom we generally sympathize. Nurgiyantoro (2005:178) says “Tokoh
protagonist adalah tokoh yang kita kagumi- yang salah satu jenisnya secara popular
disebut hero-tokoh yang merupakan pengejawantahan norma-norma, nilai-nilai
yang ideal bagi kita.” It means that protagonist reflected a good moral value in
his/her action. For example, Damanik in her thesis “An Analysis of the Main Characters’ in Harper Lee’s novel To kill A Mockingbird”(2009) says that Scout Finch (the central figure in the novel) is a protagonist because she has a good moral.
Damanik (2009:21-22) says: “She does not always grasp social niceties, she tells her teacher that one of her fellow student is too poor to pay her back for lunch, and human behavior often baffles her, as one of her teachers criticizes Hitler’s prejudice against Jews while indulging in her own prejudice against black. She is impulsive girl by nature; she keeps rushing into fight and is more emotional than her brother. Scout is an innocent girl who is exposed to evil at an early age and forced to develop an adult moral outlook. She was terrified of Boo, but once she actually saw him, she realized he was harmless. She learns the true value of getting to know someone before judging them. Scout is very warm and friendly. Even in the midst of the tension, when the mob gathers in Tom’s prison, she attempts at a friendly conversation with Mr. Cunningham. During the ladies’ meeting held.”
From the quotation above, Damanik tells that Scout is a good girl, she shows the good moral value, so that Scout called as a protagonist. We can see another example to show about the characteristic of a protagonist from Nadya Natasha’s thesis, An Analysis of Main Characters in Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a
Geisha (2011). In this thesis Natasha says that Sayuri, the central figure in the novel
is protagonist. Natasha (2011:23) says, “Sayuri is a hard worker. Since she arrives at the okiya (geisha house), she works hard. Mother tells her that she can begin her training within a few months if she works hard. Sayuri is a smart girl. After she meets Mameha, she gets a chance to study to be an elegant geisha. At school, she can master all of the lessons only in six months, especially dance, with her own ways and tricks. Sayuri is a patient girl. She tries to be patient to face all of the situations around her. Hatsumomo knows about Sayuri’s sister, but when Sayuri asks her where she can find her sister, Sayuri is slapped by Hatsumomo. It does not make little Chiyo gives up. Sayuri is a faithful woman. Since she meets the Chairman in Shirakawa River, she has a purpose of life and tries to be a successful geisha. The only reason is to meet her love, the Chairman.”
Natasha says that Sayuri is a geisha who is a hard worker, a patient girl and a faithful woman. We can see that Nadya proved that Sayuri is protagonist because she has good habits. From both of quotations above, we can learn that protagonist always admired by the reader. Actually protagonists not always do the good matter but at least he reflects the opinion and the reader’s hope, this case can be seen in Luna Sahap Maranatha’s thesis ‘An Analysis on Hendry Fleming, the Protagonist of Stephen Crene’s Impressionistic novel The Red Badge of Courage.’ This thesis analyzes about protagonist named Hendry Fleming, he is a boy who dreams of battle, and he wants to be a soldier. His mother forbids him to go to battle, but he against his mother. Maranatha (1989:34-35) says:
“He had of course dreamed of battles all his life of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire. In vision he had seen himself in many stuggles. He had imagined people secure in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess” It is clear now that his fantasy encourage him to make a decision to enlist although his mother forbids him to become a soldier.
Ignoring his mother’s advice is a bad action, but Hendry Fleming still protagonist because a whole story he gives empathy to the reader. As Nurgiyantoro (2005:178) says “Tokoh protagonis menampilkan sesuatu yang sesuai dengan
pandangan kita, harapan-harapan kita pembaca. Maka, kita sering mengenalinya
sebagai memiliki kesamaan dengan kita, permasalahan yang dihadapinya seolah-
olah juga sebagai permasalahan kita, demikian juga halnya dalam menyikapinya.”
It means that a protagonist usually represented what our feeling and our wishes. That is way; the reader may cry when the protagonist being hurt and laugh when a protagonist character gets happiness.
A fiction must have conflicts that undergone by protagonist figure, her or his characterization always influence her or his action. In this thesis, I also discuss about the main characters protagonist in the novel, not only to identify the protagonist but also to find out the impacts of being protagonist for the main characters.
The antagonist is the character with who the protagonist is in conflict, generally not a sympathetic character. This is the character driving the story forward; the one leading the charge towards the Story Goal. This character may or may not be the main character of the story. Either way, the main function of the protagonist is to pursue. The antagonist doesn’t necessarily have to be a person (antagonistic force). It could be death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character of virtue in a literary work where the protagonist represents evil.
2.4 Character Traits
According to Roberts and Jacobs (1993:132), a trait is a quality of mind or habitual mode of behavior, such as never repaying borrowed money, or avoiding eye contact, or always thinking oneself, the center of attention. Sometimes, of course, the traits we encounter are minor and therefore negligible. But often a trait may be a person’s primary characteristic (not only in fiction but also in real life). Thus, characters may be ambitious or lazy, serene or anxious, aggressive or fearful, thoughtful or inconsiderate, open or secretive, confident or self-doubting, kind or cruel, quite or noisy, visionary or practical, careful or careless, impartial or biased, straightforward or underhanded, and humorous, stubborn, caring, carefree, selfish, unselfish, generous, self-confident, respectful, inventive, creative, intelligent, honest, mischievous, friendly, hard-working, shy, dainty, busy, patriotic, fun-loving, successful, responsible, helpful, dreamer, happy, disagreeable, conceited, leader, demanding, bossy, gentle, loving, proud, wild, messy, neat, joyful, cooperative, loveable, winner or loser, and so on.
2.5 The Way of Character Disclosed in Novel
Roberts and Jacobs (1993:132) tell that an author use five ways to present their characters in the novel. As the readers, we must use our knowledge and experience to make judgments about the qualities of characters being revealed.
1. Actions What characters do is our best way to understand what or who they are.
As the ordinary human beings, fictional characters do not necessarily understand how they may be changing or why they do things they do nevertheless, their actions express their characters. Action may also signal qualities such as naiveté, weakness, deceit, a scheming personality, strong inner conflicts, or a realization or growth of some sort.
2. Descriptions, both personal and environmental Appearance and environment reveal much about character’s social and economic status, of course, but they also tell us more about character traits.
3. Dramatic statement and thoughts Although the speeches of most characters are functional-essential to keep the story moving along-they provide material from which we can draw conclusions. Often, characters use speech to hide their motivates, though we as readers should see through such a ploy.
4. Statements by other characters By studying what characters say about each other, we can enhance our understanding of the character being discussed. Ironically, the characters doing the talking often indicate something other than what they intend perhaps because of prejudice, stupidity, or foolishness.
5. Statement by the author speaking as story teller or observer
What the author says about the character is usually accurate, and the authorial voice can be accepted factually. However, when the authorial voice interprets actions and characteristics, the author himself or herself assumes the role of a reader or critic, and any opinions may be questioned. For this reason, authors frequently avoid interpretations and devote their skill to arranging events and speeches so that readers may draw their own conclusions.