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LITERATURE REVIEW
What can we know and feel when we read literary work? We will fly into another
world, into a world of imagination, we will see and hear through language. Literature is a
part of our life. It is divided into three parts: poetry, prose and drama, and these parts
are product of society. They are developed according to the development of their
respective society and they even become a part of society. As the opinion of Wellek and
Literature can not exist without language. It is the result of author’s thinking,
experience and imagination that is poured into language as its medium of expression. It
That a literary work can be used like anything, simply as a device for imaginative
stimulation, a way to find out what we are thinking or feeling or who we are. Or it
can be read as the precise record of an unique and special experience (1991:1).
Literary work is a kind of media for us to know about how the human life at the
past, at the present and even in the future. Nowdays, we know that literary works are
continuously because of that we have to know about theories that we can use to
together with the authors view, aim, way of life experiences, and even his emotion.
Austin Warren and Rene Wellek (1995:109) wrote in Teori Kesusastraan as:
Sastra adalah institusi sosial yang memakai medium bahsa. Teknik-teknik sastra
tradisional seperti simbolisme dan matra bersifat sosial karena merupakan
konvensi dan norma masyarakat. Lagi pula sastra “menyajikan kehidupan” dan
“kehidupan” sebagian besar terdiri dari kenyataan sosial, walaupun karya sastra
juga “meniru” alam dan dunia subjektif manusia.
Literature as an art form it has many benefits for human by reading literary work,
we can compare to other people, knowing their difficulties, suffering and many thing
other qualities. As an imaginative writing, literature creates its own fictional world.
system refers to the general and abstract convention arranging the relation of elements
inside literary text. These elements are arranged to relate one to another and form a
unity. Structuralism considers that the convention can be detected and described
autonomously by structure analysis of literary text, separated it from the author and the
social reality.
There are three main ideas explained in the structuralism as Jean Peaget
mentions. First is the idea of wholeness. It means any intrinsic element building up the
story is the key to determining the whole structure and the other elements as well.
Secondly is the idea of transformation. It means that the structure and the principal of
significant that what is inside the work itself is autonomous and able to prevent its
Strukturalisme itu pada dasarnya merupakan cara berfikir tentang dunia yang
terutama berhubungan dengan tanggapan dan deskripsi struktur-struktur. Menurut
pikiran strukturalisme, dunia (karya sastra merupakan susunan hubungan
daripada susunan benda-benda. Oleh karena itu kodrat setiap unsur dalam
struktur itu tidak memiliki makna dengan sendirinya, melainkan namanya
ditentukan oleh hubungan dengan semua unsur karya yang terkandung dalam
struktur itu (1995:119-120).
verbal structure which has its own outonomy apart from the others elements outside of
it. On the other hand, a literary text is viewed as a complete work and has its inner
its structure apart from historical background and his attention from social background
explains that:
Though structuralism has various weakness but we have to agree with Teeuw’s
statement. However, the structuralism analysis is a priority duty for a literary researcher
before he steps to other way because generally literary is “world in a word” which has
Atmazaki (1990:230) in his book Ilmu Sastra Teori dan Terapan said the
structuralism theory uses many different ways to critisize the literary work but they have
The writer uses structuralism theory in analyzing the novel. It is focuses on the
intrinsic elements of the story. This approach prevents the analysis to stay in the
analyzing the characters and the plot pattern. Analysis is focused on the problems
factors related with the origin of literary works such as authors and historical reality.
Historical background, time, and society affect the process of creating literary work. The
existence of authors in a certain society also influences the story of one literary work.
2.3 Character
The characters are the people in the story or in the novel. The characters make up
central interest of many dramas or novels. Characters in literature, a personage in a
novel story, short story or poem. Characters is also very important in the story, it is can
make the story to keep moving, without characters the story can not be performed as a
literary work. The term character can be described as follow:
appeared in literary work, wether a fictional character or historic figure. Character are
widely considered as an assential element of fictional work especially in novel and play.
characterization.
There are two kinds of character in the story. There are main character and minor
character. Main character is a character who plays an important role of a character
who is often focused on and given some commnets by the author. Minor character
is a character who function as a supporting character, plays additional role and
gives support to the main character (Resminy 2007:13).
Characters is the person that presented in a drama or narration and the process
by which the writer makes character seems real to the reader called characterization.
The characters make up central interest of many novels and dramas, as well as
Teori Sastra, he wrote that character is description of figure’s story whether their
performance, their way of life, he believes or his customs in a play, characters have an
The characters have their own characteristics and personality which are absolutely
Character is the people in the text, they are part of the ordinary life that you meet
as you read, and you might dislike, admire, or symphatize with them (Mars,
1995:26).
Character is the people shown in narrative work, or play, interpreted by the reader
that the people has moral quality and particular tendency expressed in utterance and
Tokoh cerita (character) adalah orang-orang yang di tampilkan dalam suatu karya
naratif, atau drama yang oleh pembaca ditafsirkan memiliki kualitas moral dan
kecenderungan tertentu seperti yang diekspresikan dalam ucapan dan apa yang
dilakukan dalam tindakan.
Afterward, defenition of character is expressed by Abrams which the character
Character are the person, in a dramatic or a narrative work, endowed with normal
and qualities that are expressed in what they say, the dialogues, and what they do
the action ( 1981:20).
There are five classifications of caharacter as Burhan Nurgiyanto said. The first
classification is based on the caharcters’s role or the importance of the character in the
Main Character
Main character is the character considered as the most important character in the
Peripheral Character
Peripheral character is the additional character which its role is unimportant in the
story. The appearance of this chapter is lesser than the main character. This character
appears only when there is relevance to the main character directly or indirectly.
The second classification of character is based on the character’s role and its
Protagonist is the character which the reader admires to, sometimes called the
hero of the story. This caharacter is the personification of norms and values are ideal
for the reader .Protagonist shows something which agrees with the reader’s view and
Antagonist
Antagonist is the character which causes the conflict in the story. Sometimes the
antagonist called the enemy of the protagonist because it is believed as the opposition
character based on its characterization. This type devided into two types:
Simple Character
Simple character is the character which shows its original character. The simple
character has only one particular personal quality, particular character. Simple character
does not have character of action which gives surprising affect to the reader. The
Complex Character
Complex character is the character which has and shown all its possibly life,
personality, and its self. Compared to the simple character, complex character more like
the real human life because beside having all the possibly characters and action,
complex character also giving surprise to the reader (Abrams in Nurgiyantoro,
2007:183).
undevelop character in the story. This type divided into two types:
Static Character
development of its character as the result of events happen in the story (Altenbernd &
Lewis in Nurgiyantoro, 2007:188). This character is less involved and insusceptible with
Developing Character
characterization based on the reflecting character to the people from real life. This type
Typical Character
Typical character is the character which its individuality shown less and more
explored its working quality or its nationality (Altenbernd & Lewis in Nurgiyantoro, 2007:
190). Typical character is the reflection of the people in an institution or the individual as
Neutral character is the character which exists only in the story. It is truly imaginary
character which only exists in the fiction. This Character appears purely for the story,
even neutral character could be the author, the subject of the story, or recounted in the
story. It’s presence does not represent something from outside of itself, something
literary work that has some sort identity, an identity which is made up by appearance,
2.4 Plot
author creates plot. As we know that plot is the sequence of incidents or events of which
a story is composed. Plot may be the single most important device creating unity in a
particular story. It is through plot the author organize the experience of the author and
the author’s experience must tells us a great deal about his way of understanding his
factor in understanding fiction. A literary fiction, sometimes describes one main idea as
Plot is the whole sequence of events that are related to each other in the story.
Generally, plot has a convention structures: exposition, raising action, conflict, climax,
falling action, and resolution. As Charter (1987: 136-137) divides plot into four parts:
Exposition is the part in which the author introduces the characters, scene,
Climax is where the rising action (complication and conflict) come to further
their characters experiencing life, female playwrights appeal to their audience and
attempt to trigger a desire for change. Real women who suffer trauma such as the
physicalabuse endured by Marie in Perfect Pie and Emiko in And the Soul Shall
Dance, and the oppression that smothered Josefa in The Day of the Swallows,
provide an “impossible history” that can not be possessed but rather possesses the
women’s role in the daily. As Judith Herman (1992:133) explains that healing can not
happen in isolation but rather needs a speaker and a listener. Theater fills this role and
can be particularly powerful because the suicidal woman does not only talk to another
Women are reporting only one-quarter of all physical assaults, one-fifth of all
rapes, and one-half of all stalking (NCADV 2009). The provides an exceptional forum for
women are to reach out to other women to make people aware of injustices where the
audience can see, feel, and hear things ‘up close and personal.’ In live performances,
the actors are right there with the audience, sharing the energy, the struggles, and
bringing women’s stories to life. That is the beauty of theater. The actors are working in
the same room, breathing the same air. The theater is the perfect forum for change and
change is what is needed in an unequal society where abuse and oppression exist.
The Women’s International Center in www.wic.org stated that woman was also
accountable for the actions of the family outside the home. for example, if a man took
up excessive drinking or gambling, his wife was blamed for not creating a suitable home
environment. To create an ideal home the wife handled all housework in addition to
In the 1969, woman was responsible to create warm and happy home for her
husband and children. Some families could hire servants but most could not afford to
hire the help of the servants. The duties of running household were very difficult to
women. A woman prepared three times meals every day. Housecleaning, laundry,
mending, and ironing were all done with painstakingcare. Daughters were expected to
help with housework to expedite chores and also to learn skills for their own future
because so many men were killed or seriously wounded in the war, American family
were faced with the difficult task of supporting themselves without the help of the man of
the house. Very small pensions to widows and veterans were not enough to restore
(http://en.wikipedia.org/HistoryofWomeni1969intheUnitedStates:2009)
developing world still remain disadvantaged in relation to men. That women have
different characters in each life and women can draw on to meet their needs and their
life.