ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT THEORY OF LITERATURE

FROM SHORT STORY

MADELINE YUDITH
F21116307

SASTRA INGGRIS
UNIVERSITAS HASANUDDIN
2017
 ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT THEORY OF LITERATURE
FROM SHORT STORY

TITLE : To Kill a Child (Att döda ett barn)

AUTHOR : Stig Dagerman (5 October 1923 – 4 November 1954)
PUBLISHED : 1948

1. Intrinsic elements of To Kill a Child Short Story

a. Character and Characterization

In this short story, the main character named “the man who will kill the
child”. He is cheerful, carefree, and not an evil man that are mention
inside the short story. The characteristic of the main character change
by the time The man who will kill the child drive a blue car with a
young woman sits beside him. A child, his mother and father, two
childrens and peoples that lives in the villages.

b. Setting
In this short story, the setting is on Sunday at the morning. With a
peaceful atmosphere that emphasized by the author for several times
that turn into an evil day. That set in the three villages along the plain,
in Sweden.

c. Plot
Plot in To Kill a Child story is described in a clear prose, from a
peaceful day turn into an evil day that one of the characters
unintentionally hits a small child with a car. The author let the readers
know what will happen from the very start and the author works with a
narration technique called planting. In this short story there are
multiple plotlines since two course of events happen simultaneously.
 d. Theme
This short story is about an unexpected accident.

e. Message
From my point of view, Dagerman seems to be saying that tragedy is
often violent and unexpected, that we are all fragile, all a very human
vulnerable. But this story was written for the National Society for Road
Safety i nan attempt to slof down the traffic and decrease the amount
of traffic accidents.

f. Point of view
Point of view of this short story is third person point of view that use
pronouns such as the man, young woman, and the child.

2. The contribution of the theory in the short story

In analysing the data of To Kill a Child short story, psychoanalytic theory is the
theory that has a contribution in this short story. The short story described the man
which is a cheerful man that turns into a mute man that full of sadness and regrets for
what was happened to the child that he hit by his blue car while the child just go out
to take some sugar across the road. Its a self-actualization, acceptance the facts which
force the man to look on the reality.

3. Perception about theory

This theory is an interesting theory that utilized to interpret the concealed meaning
within a text. This theory can explain us how and why the character inside the text
story has its own characterisation based on psychology theories. This theory explain
the factor or the problem from the experienced action from the character from the
writing text, its revealed the background story that makes it own character. In the
other hand, this theory would help to explain what will happen to the character after
the climax of the story.
4. Synopsis of the To Kill a Child short story
To begin a peaceful day in the three villages on the plain, a family that are prepared to
do an activities on Sunday morning. The mother prepare the breakfast, the father
shaving in front of mirrors propped on the kitchen table, and the child buttoning the
front of his shirt. The man who will kill the child stop in a gas pump in the first
village and taking a picture of a young woman that laughing stands behind his blue
car that planned to going to sea. The man talking to the attendant about his plan with
the young woman. The mother that has no sugar left ask the child to take some sugar
across the road. The man who will kill the child feel peaceful deeper when he rush the
road in hurry. When he finnaly reach the third village, he hits the child. The young
woman scream and the man opens a car door and tried to stand with his legs. The
child died. The man and the young woman cancelled their plan and decided to drives
home slowly, in silence. After they part, it is in the deepest silence. The man regrets
the last minute when he hit the child with his car that has not have any possibility to
not hit anyone.