Enggar Dwi Septian/06

12203193025

TBI 3B
LITERATURE APPRECIATION
NOVEL ANALYSIS

“Surat Kecil untuk Tuhan”

By: Agnes Davonar
The theme in the novel "Surat Kecil untuk Tuhan" is "Struggle for Life". This novel tells
the story of the struggle of a little girl who was convicted of malignant cancer (Rabdomiosarcoma)
and it is predicted that her life is only 5 days away. The cancer continues to eat away at the face
so that it becomes ugly like a monster. Despite the difficult circumstances, Keke (nickname for
this little girl) struggled to stay alive and go to school like any other normal girl. God also showed
generosity by giving Keke a deep breath to escape his cancer.

There are several characters in this novel. The main character in this novel is Keke. The
full name of the main character is Gita Sessa Wenda Cantika, an active, intelligent and confident
teenage girl. He has high desires and aspirations, even though he knows that his life will not be
long. “One more habit every time I come home from school while waiting for my father to finish
working in the school office. I often participated in volleyball extracurricular activities with my
seniors and my two brothers. Besides that, I also like helping them to make Wall Magazine. Then
I was directed by my seniors to become a Creative team because they said I had a talent for
drawing and my imagination was high”. Apart from the main character, there are other characters
in this novel, namely Keke’s father, Friends of Keke, Andi, and Pak Iyus. Keke's father was a
patient, kind, always trying, wise, and caring father for his three children. “I refused at the second
bite, but my father loyally stood beside me and continued to provide support to me while seducing
me to take the herbs”. Keke's friends were named Fadha, Maya, Shifa, Ida, and Andhini. They
were good friends and faithfully accompanied Keke his sad times to the end. “Fadha and my
friends just smiled at me and said," Welcome back, Keke "”. Andi is a friend and a man who always
loves Keke, he is a handsome, patient, caring, loving and kind man. While the character Pak Iyus
is someone who is always loyal to the Keke family, he is kind, patient and attentive to Keke.
 The plot in the novel "Surat Kecil untuk Tuhan" is a forward plot. The plot is divided into
several stages, namely Introduction, Conflict Emergence, Climax, Conflict Decrease, and
Resolution. The introduction stage begins with the introduction of the main character in this
novel, Keke. “Keke is a beautiful and smart boy, he likes playing volleyball. He also has many
friends and of course has a happy family even though his father and mother have separated, but he
is always happy with what he has”. Meanwhile, the conflict started when Keke's brother
contracted eye disease. “Kiki, Keke's brother suffered from eye pain. Indeed, at that time eye pain
was attacking many students at Keke's school. And at that time Keke also caught the eye disease,
causing Keke's eyes to swell. Initially it was normal swelling, but over time the swelling got bigger
and bigger until the yellow face got bigger too. And doctors also convicted that Keke had a very
malignant soft tissue cancer. The climax stage is when Keke's disease gets worse. “Gradually the
cancer started to weaken Keke, but Keke's father kept trying to cure Keke. After doing alternative
medicine to and fro, Keke's condition did not improve”. At the reduced stage of the conflict, Keke
began to get better at the chemotherapy weight of a professor. "Until finally Keke met a great
professor. Then Keke did chemotherapy treatment. The chemotherapy was successful, even though
Keke had to feel cold and his hair was falling off”. And in the final stage, the completion stage is
the final moments of Keke's life leaving his family and friends. “After trying so hard with no
success, Keke's father started giving up Keke if Keke had to leave. When Keke was hospitalized,
Keke was in a coma for a while, and was awakened from his coma. But after that he fell back to
sleep peacefully forever. My father and other family have let Keke go”.

There are 3 settings in this novel, namely the setting of place, time and atmosphere. The
setting of times that appear in this novel are morning, noon, and night. “The sound of birds chirping
in the morning, can be heard through the ceiling of my room”. “The hot afternoon weather made
me a little weak at the time, but I didn't want to show my team”. “At night when I woke up, my
father, Chika, and Kiki invited me to have dinner outside while looking for a fresh breeze”. The
setting in this novel is the city of Jakarta, Bandung and Singapore. “We also bought a famous WTC
wig in Jakarta”. “The atmosphere changed when we entered the city of Bandung”. “After all night
we walked and enjoyed the city of Singapore”. The atmosphere that is most pronounced in this
novel is the atmosphere of "Sad". This setting took place during Keke's final life.
 The point of view used in this novel is the first person perspective. This is evidenced by
the use of the word "I" in the story. “Hi friend, my name is Gita Sesa Wanda Cantika. too long
huh, Ok! Let's just say my name is Keke. I am the third of three children. I have two older brothers
their names are also shortened. Call them handsome Chiko and sweet Kiki. Hehehe, so among my
family, I am the only daughter”.

The moral message that we can take after reading this novel is “In facing a trial, however
tough it is, we must keep trying to get up and not give up. Stay diligent in studying and studying
as long as we are still able to breathe. And keep trying to make the people we care about happy,
who never show us sadness and weakness to others.

Summary

Summary of this novel is about the struggle of teenage girls against malignant cancer,
Rabdomiosarcoma (soft tissue cancer). She is Gita Sessa Wanda Cantika. This little girl is the main
character in the novel “Surat Kecil Untuk Tuhan” who is convicted of malignant cancer and it is
predicted that her life will only have 5 days left. The soft tissue cancer was eating away at his face,
leaving him looking ugly and becoming a monster. Even in difficult circumstances, Keke continues
to struggle to stay alive and go to school like any other normal girl. Her parents had a hard time
making the decision, after all, as her parents, they could not bear to see that half of their daughter's
face had to be lost due to surgery. So my father and family kept the cancer a secret from Keke, a
vocation for an active teenage girl with a million modeling and singing accomplishments. But
finally Keke knew that he was stricken with malignant cancer, he gave up and was not angry with
anyone who kept the deadly disease a secret to him. He smiled at anyone and showed his struggle
that with cancer on his face he was still able to achieve and live a normal life in school. God
showed greatness by giving him a long breath to escape the cancer while his father, Joddy Tri
Aprianto, did not give up. He continues to fight so that his beloved daughter can be released from
the death sentence. The father's struggle to save his daughter was so moving.

His father tried to find alternative medicine and traveled throughout Indonesia, but to no
avail. Inevitably his father returned to medical science and according to doctors, there is one other
way that can kill cancer, chemotherapy. Keke's fight against cancer bore fruit. With all her parents'
efforts, Gita got the chance to recover after surviving for 6 months through chemotherapy to kill
cancer cells that were eating away at her body. Once chemotherapy, it can shed all the hair on its
body, and Gita's small body has to undergo it up to 25 times to recover. God's greatness allows
him to be with his family and friends he loves longer. Gita's case of malignant cancer is the first
case that has occurred in Indonesia and has become a debate in medical circles because this cancer
usually only occurs in the elderly. The success of Indonesian doctors in curing cancer cases is a
proud achievement as well as making all doctors in the world wonder. But the cancer returned
after a brief joyous feast, Keke realized that his breath in this world was getting narrower. He was
not angry with God., he was grateful to get a chance to breathe longer than the 5 day sentence
lasted up to 3 years. The cancer came back, but this time at a different location, on the right temple.
This time, his father tried the first one, hoping to kill the naughty cancer. Chemotherapy was
carried out again, all of Keke's hair fell out. But it looks like the cancer is getting resistant to the
chemical. The cancer remained sitting on Keke's right temple.

Finally, his father tried treatment in Singapore, where the doctor suggested surgery.
because of desperation, they returned to Indonesia with Keke's condition getting worse, Kenker
began to spread throughout the body, to the lungs, heart and other organs. One thing that touched
me was, with such a severe condition, Keke's enthusiasm for learning was very high, he still
insisted on going to school. even when his hands and feet were no longer able to move. Time
passed and Keke's condition did not improve until he finally had to be hospitalized again at the
RSCM and fell into a coma for three days. In the hospitalization mass there was news that was so
proud of both Keke and his family that Allah did give trials according to the ability of His servants.
Keke proved all that. "Keke won third place in his class in the final school examination."

Then, the doctor succumbed to his cancer, on his last breath he wrote a small letter to
God. A letter filled with the generosity of the hearts of Indonesian youth who hope that no more
tears in this world will happen to him, will happen to anyone. His breath has ended on 25 December
2006 right after he started his last fasting and Eid with his family and friends.
Background of the Writer

Agnes Davonar is a phenomenal person in the world of Indonesian literature. He started

his career as an amateur writer on a blog. Then quickly developed into a learning writer and gave
birth to an online novel and 42 short stories that stick with all readers of his personal website. Its
own uniqueness is in the name Agnes Davonar. Agnes comes from his name, while Davonar is
taken from his younger brother's name. So they are two brothers who are united in a work.

Agnes was born in Jakarta on 8 October while Davonar was born in Jakarta, 7 August.
They are two big brothers in the arts scene. Her father was a Chinese calligraphy painter while her
mother was a housewife. Agnes works as a private employee and Davonar studies at the Japanese
Literary University Bina Nusantara. Both have the same hobby, which is like sports. But their
shrewdness in writing has led them to become talented young writers in the ranks of Indonesian
literature. Agnes Davonar calls him an online Novelist and Short stories. Due to sincerity and
discipline in working, a Top100.com ranking site Blog ranks its Blog as the first rank of the 100
best blogs in Indonesia. Very astonishingly, a literary blog outperforms blogs and internet sites
that generally focus more on music or tips on making money through internet marketing.

Background of the Story

The background for the writing of this novel is the true story of a former child artist in the
1998 era named Gita Sessa Wanda Cantika. "Surat Kecil untuk Tuhan" is the true story that Agnes
Davonar first wrote and published on their blog. Thousands of tears fell when this story was read,
at the request of the reader, Agnes Davonarpun made this story his second novel and surely this
story is more perfect with thousands of tears that are ready to fall in every verse of Keke's journey.