RESEARCH PROPOSAL

TRAUMA IN AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE

ORIENT EXPRESS

By:
Nur Muhammad Saiful Rijal Romadhoni
NIM 16320211

Advisor:
Muzakki Afifuddin, M.Pd
NIP 197610112011011005

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
UNIVERSITAS ISLAM NEGERI MAULANA MALIK
IBRAHIM MALANG
2020
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

We use to use the word "trauma" in daily activity to describe a

stressful event. Human beings have many problems in their life, those

problems are related to human psyche. Sometimes human beings express their

problems with some expressions such as anxiety, fear, sadness, and scare.

Psychosis is term of psychology to describe human mental disorder.

Psychosis is mental disorder or mental illness that inflicts disintegration of

personality because of some problems. Psychosis is the heaviest mental

symptoms. One of psychosis is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Post-

traumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD is one only a few mental illness

that are triggered by a disturbing outside event, unlike other mental disorder

such as clinical depression (Atkinson, 1983).

Discussing about psychology, human being have a close relationship

with psychology because human behavior shows the psychological condition.

The behavior can be understood by someone’s soul, mind or mental. Those

things associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms. Understanding the

mental phenomena, it can be seen through behaviors such as what was said

and done by the patient (Siswantoro, 2005:29).

The issue about trauma can also appear in literary works. Novel is one

of literary works where it portrays the real phenomena such as psychological

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disorder that experienced by each character. Psychological phenomena in

fiction shows that the readers to interpret that they have suitable psychology.

This behavior becomes a data empirical facts that must be presented by the

researcher about the condition, which the researcher has applied the

psychological theories in analyzing the data (Siswantoro, 2005:30).

Commonly, literary criticism with psychological approach is using

Freud’s theory which related to the function and mental development of

humans. Practically, Freud used literary works several times for example the

case. Literary work is seen as a phenomenon psychological which displays

aspects of the psyche through the characters in the story. Psychology and

literature have a functional relation because they also study the psychology of

others, the difference is human psychology is real, whereas literature’s

character is imaginative

One of the literary works that talks about trauma is Murder on the

Orient Express by Agatha Christie. It is popular enough around the world, it

is proven by the selling of this novel and being best seller novel in the world.

The major character in this novel is Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective who

have his own style in breaking the cases of criminal. When Sherlock Holmes

reckons his eccentric deduction and field investigation, Holmes accurately

solves the case. But, Hercule Poirot has his own treatment in breaking the

cases, he less doing field investigation but more focus on interviewing the

person who had been suspected. In this book focus on who is the murderer

and the motive of the murder. Poirot attempts to break the case that happened

while he was on his way to London. Ratchett is a man who becomes a victim

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 of murder by the murderer who had a revenge on him. The main motive of it,

because the murderer not get a true justice. This novel has three chapters. The

first chapter consist of nine part, the second chapter consist of fifteen part,

and the third chapter consist of nine part.

The reason why Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express

become the object of research, because based on the writer’s observation

there are no researchers who have analyzed this novel specifically using the

psychological approach. This research will focus on the PTSD’s symptom of

fourteen characters whose get traumatic events because of Amstrong’s

family’s death.

1.2 Research Question

1. What symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder can be discovered

in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express?

2. How does each character in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the

Orient Express deal with their trauma?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1. To know any symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in Agatha

Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express

2. To know how the way each character deal with the trauma in

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express

1.4 Scope and Limitation

There are many areas and cases to analyze Agatha Christie’s Murder on

the Orient Express. But, this study focuses on investigating PTSD of fourteen

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 characters in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. They are Dr.

Constantine, Mary Debenham, Mrs. Hubbard, Colonel Arbuthnot, Princess

Dragomiroff, Hector McQueen, Countess Andrenyi, Count Andrenyi, Cyrus

Hardman, Antonio Foscanelli, Greta Ohlsson, Hildegarde Schmidt, Edward

Henry Masterman, Pierre Michel. It focused on analyzing psychological

problems using psychological approach that showing post-traumatic stress

disorder. Moreover, this research focuses on two part, such as the symptoms

of PTSD, and how the way to deal with the trauma by fourteen characters in

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.

1.5 Significance of the Study

There are two kinds of significance of the study, those are theoretical

and practical significance.

Theoretically, this research is intended to enrich the theoretical bases

of literary studies, especially those which are related to the psychological

aspect in literary works. Practically, this study is to implement one of literary

theories, thus the researcher can reach the formulated objective appropriately.

Practically, the finding of the study is for readers who have a great

attention on literary works and for those who are interested in understanding

the trauma of characters which affected the literary work, novel Murder on

The Orient Express, especially concerning with the psychology criticism of

the character’s PTSD.

This study is also expected to be the example or reference for

researcher who would conduct a study about trauma through Agatha Christie’s

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 Murder on The Orient Express. The study may give useful information and

increase inspiration for the other researcher to conduct research on literary

work, especially in the same study.

1.6 Definition of the Key Term

To avoid misunderstanding among readers, the writer provides the

definition of important terms as follows:

1. Stress is a medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both

physiological and psychological, which can cause a physiological response

called the general adaptation syndrome (Hans Selye, journal nature, 1936).

2. Traumatic is a severe emotional shock and pain caused by an extremely

upsetting experience the trauma of marriage breakdown. Trauma is also a

severe injury, usually caused by a violent attack or an accident (Cambridge

Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: third edition, 2008). Trauma is an

emotional shock producing a lasting harmful effect or an unpleasant

experience that causes one distressed anxiety (Oxford Advanced Learner’s

Dictionary of Current English: Fifth Edition).

3. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a serious potentially debilitating condition

that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a natural

disaster, serious accident, terrorist incident, sudden death of a loved one,

war, violent personal assault such as rape, or other life-threatening even.

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1.7 Previous Studies

The first previous study was from Gadjah Mada University students.

This study discusses the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) experienced

by Charlie in the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is a newest

novel written by Stephen Chomsky. In the story, Charlie is a main character

who experiences trauma involving his relationship with Aunt Hellen. In

addition, the death of his friend Michael, changed his perspective on

friendship. The purpose of this study is to find the symptoms of the Post-

Traumatic Stress Disorder and his effects that occur in The Perks of Being a

Wallflower. The theory of psychoanalysis is used to analyze this research.

from the analysis, it can be concluded that Charlie apparently got PTSD

because he was known to meet some of the symptoms. Furthermore, his

experience of PTSD influenced his personality and behavior including from

his perspective in love, sexuality, and friendship.

The second previous study was from State Islamic University of

Surabaya student, Fitria Febriani (2008). This study discusses Megan’s

Trauma in Paula Hawkins’The Girl On The Train. This study aims to analyze

Megan’s trauma and the way she tries to deal with her trauma. Megan is

described to have experienced trauma due to an accident that killed her

brother. The grief of losing him is intensifed by the death of her baby because

of her carelessness. Megan’s trauma is analyzed based on the symptoms of

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The results show that Megan

experiences PTSD symptoms such as insomnia, unbalanced emotion, and

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hypervigilance. Meanwhile, the way Megan deals with her trauma is shown

by her decision to become a babysitter and to overcome her fear of vehicle.

The third previous study was from Radboud University thesis’s

student, Noah Swildens. This study is using ecranisation approach. Kenneth

Branagh’s film adaptation Murder on the Orient Express (2017) is analysed to

see how it deviates from Agatha Christie’s novel. This study aims to provide

an answer to the question of how Kenneth Branagh adapted Murder on the

Orient Express for a modern audience. It will argue that Branagh has stayed

reasonably close to the source text while at the same time updating the

story and its characters in order for the modern audience to connect

better with the story. This study look at the characterisation of the

story’s protagonist Hercule Poirot, Branagh’s inclusion of the modern themes

of race and racism, and the use of action and violence.

The fourth previous study was thesis from Muhammadiyah University

of Surakarta student, Mega Asri Utama Putri. The tittle of this study is A

Family and Their Revenge in Agatha Christie’s Novel Murder on The Orient

Express (1934): a Sociological Approach. The object of the research is same,

Murder on The Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Sociological approach is

used in analyzing the object. This reseach aims three objective first, to know

the motive of murder, second, to describe Amstrong’s family revenge, third,

to reveal why Agatha Christie create this novel.

The difference between this research and previous research is in the

object analysis. The previous study used The Perks of Being A Wallflower

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 and other object, but this research uses Murder on The Orient Express novel.

The categorization of character is also different. The previous used main

characters, while the recent study is using minor character, that is Amstrong’s

family.

1.8 Research Method

This part describes the research method which includes, research

design, data source, data collection, and data analysis.

Research Design

This research is categorized into literary criticism, because it is the

reasoned consideration of literary works and issues. It is an extension of

social activity interpreting and a tool for interpreting literature. The researcher

uses psychological approach to analyze. It is a literary criticism that critiques

a literary work from the psychological view and perspective. In this case the

researcher tries to interpret the data in relation with psychological theory.

The novel tells 14 characters who kill a victim. They show some

psychological indications that happen in real life. It is described that the

characters has a problem with the psychological condition. Through this

approach, the researcher expected to study intensely about what happen with

the character.

Data Source

The source used in this research is taken from Agatha Christie’s Murder

on the Orient Express. It was originally published in January 1st 1934 by

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Collins crime club, in the United Kingdom. This novel has 256 pages and 3

parts, first part consist of 8 chapters, second part consist of 12 chapters, third

part consist of 9 chapters. The additional sources are any relevant references

that can facilitate the researcher to carry out the analysis.

Data Collection

To collect the data, the researcher uses textual observation from primary

data of this research in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. In

collecting data, the researcher uses several steps: understand the novel by

reading repeatedly and carefully. Then taking notes or encoding the content of

the novel. It can give highlight, underline, and gives the sign of paper. After

that, classification the necessary data to analyzes and selects the data which

are relevant to the problems of the study.

Data Analysis

After collecting the data, the researcher begins to analyze the data by

identifying and classifying the data with psychological theory. Then,

interpreting the data according to the researcher’s opinion or argument and

seeing some references. Furthermore, drawing and evaluating the conclusion

according to the psychological perspective by using psychological approach.

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