A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

STRUCTURALISM IN THE SHORT STORY OF “THE

PURLOINED LETTER” BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

Presented to Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements to Final Test (UAS) in Research Method
Class

By
FAHRUNNISA HAERANI
SID : 33210052

English Literature Programme

Faculty of Communication and Language
University of Bina Sarana Informatika
Jakarta
2023
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENT ....................................................................................... i

CHAPTER I INTODUCTION......................................................................... 1
1.1.Background of The Study ............................................................................. 1
1.2.Statement of The Problem ............................................................................. 4
1.3.Scope of The Problem ................................................................................... 4
1.4.The Purpose of Research ............................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW ..................................................... 6
2.1.The Definition of Structuralism .................................................................... 6
2.2.The Parts of Structuralism............................................................................. 9
2.2.1.The Facts of The Story ...................................................................... 10
2.2.1.1.Plot .......................................................................................... 10
2.2.1.2.Character ................................................................................. 11
2.2.1.3.Setting ..................................................................................... 11
2.2.1.4.Themes .................................................................................... 12
2.2.2.The Means of The Story.................................................................... 12
2.2.2.1.Title ......................................................................................... 13
2.2.2.2.Point of View .......................................................................... 13
2.2.2.3.Language Style and Tone ........................................................ 13
2.2.2.4.Symbol .................................................................................... 14
2.2.2.5.Irony ........................................................................................ 14
2.3.Summary of The Story ................................................................................ 15
2.4.Previous Studies .......................................................................................... 17
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ....................................................... 20
3.1.Research Method ......................................................................................... 20
3.2.Data Source ................................................................................................. 21
3.3.Data Collection Techniques and Data Analysis .......................................... 21
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................... 23

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of The Study

The enhancement of comprehending literary works as a creative skill must be

controlled by students. All written materials, including plays, novels, poems, and

philosophical and historical works, amusement reader’s emotions. Literature could

be divided into two categories those writings that mainly provide information, and

the other place those mainly amuse (Jones, 1968). According to informative

literature, the world is round. It related history, explanations, and the lives of actual

people. Its primary goal is to proffer knowledge; in contrast, the goal of imaginative

literature is to evoke ideas and senses.

It has long been believed that literature has been assumed to be an exhaustive

human production to express ideas, or thoughts. It has been called a wonderful

human treasure that provides readers with pleasure, knowledge, experience, and

information. Additionally, readers can learn more about God, human life, social

interactions, and lessons like frugality, husbandry, resignation, and cooperation by

reading literary works.

A lot of things about life can be revealed through literature (Prasetia, 2020).

Literature describes a wide veriety of conflicts and problems that humans and other

earthly creatures experience. The author repackages all of that into fictional works

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that readers who appreciate literature can enjoy. Readers can acquire a greet deal

from literary work, including kindness, courage, emphaty, and other life lessons.

A literary work is an impression from an author that contains meaning and a

message to be expressed to the reader. Literary works describe human life, Sastra

in Wasniah (Wasniah & Yulianeta Yulianeta, 2022). It reflects how different facets

of life are connected to one another through literary works. Literary works create

messages for human life contained in the work.

A literary work’s message can serve as a guide to overcoming obstacles in life

or as a reminder or piece of advice for connoisseurs of literature to lead better lives.

This is also the reason the researcher chose this literary work for his study because

it contains a wealth of messages and lessons. One lesson that can be learned from

the researcher’s experience is that, even in situations where we are unable to

confront an issue head-on, we can still use our strategies and efforts to find a

solution.

Literature is one in which the auhtor uses language as a means of expression

to create something beautiful. According to Nurgiyantoro in N. Abduh (Abduh &

Masruddin, 2023), It was stated literary works are an artistic expression through

language. Literary works are imagined, fictional, and strongly connected to the

ideas of the writer. There are many different kinds of literary works, including

novels, poetry, prose, drama, and short stories.

A short story is a piece of literature that depicts the social life and daily

activities of the writer (Nurmartanti, 2019). Creating a short story will expose the

phenomena that took place in the author’s immediate surrondings, including the
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author’s life, opinions, and criticisms. Thus, the short story is seen as text that

describes imagined events and characters. Unlike a lengthy novel, a short story is

meant to be read in one sitting. Reading short stories at once means that short stories

contain density and shortness.

In literary works like short stories, there are building elements that make a

work into a unified whole. The elements of the short story can be analyzed using

the theory of structuralism. According to Ratna in Panambunan (Panambunan, I.

W., Badaruddin, S., & Kuswarini, 2022), It is said structuralism is certaintly an

understanding of the elements, that is, the structure itself, as well as the mechanism

underlying their relationships, on the one side between an element’s relationship

with another element and, on the other side, between an element’s relationship with

its totality.

Analyzing short stories can involve a variety of studies, including

structuralism studies. An intrinsic method, such as a structural approach, focuses on

the elements that form a literary work from within. Structuralism is another way of

thinking about the world, which is more of an arrangementof relationships than an

arrangement of objects. A short story or other work of fiction has intrinsic content

that significantly affects the story’s impact, based on theory of structuralism fiction

Stanton in Syarifah (Syarifah et al., 2022). Stanton separates the intrinsic elements

into two primary categories, namely the facts of the story and the means of

literature. The elements used in the analysis of the structure of literary works

including themes, plot, character or characterization, and setting.

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In this context, discussing the structure of a literary work as a living body,

one must inevitably first understand the structure of the story as a literary fact. The

section of the episodes in the story are expressed one by one as a unit of the literary

work. Thus, in structural terms, each structure in the story has its own individual

function that brings together the entire course of the story. If even one element of

the story structure is not revealed according to its function, the literary work is not

complete.

The reason why researchers chose this short story to be the subject of this

research, even though many people already know it, however, for the researchers,

this is an interesting story, and there are action scenes. The story describes a very

important letter theft. In essence, this story depicts the ingenuity and speed of a

detective in solving a mystery. What interests researchers most is that the story

reflects deductive intelligence and skill. Not only that, the reason why researchers

chose structuralism is because, in this way, they can clearly know the connections

between structuralism and themes.

1.2. Statement of The Problem

Based on the explanation in the background of the study above, this research

will be able to answer the statement of the problem as follows:

1. What are the structuralism of “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allan Poe?

2. How do the themes relate to structuralism one to another?

1.3. Scope of The Problem

In order for researchers to answer the question accurately, the researcher

focused on Robert Stanton’s structuralisme approach to analyzing the structuralism

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of “The Purloined Letter’s” short story and finding out the relationship between

themes and each other’s structuralism.

1.4. The Purpose of Research

Based on the statement of the problem, the researchers decide the purpose of

the researcher as follows:

1. To know the structuralism of the short story “The Purloined Letter”

2. To know the relationship of the themes with the structuralism of each other.
 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

2.1.The Definition of Structuralism

Structuralism is a philosophical idea whose main idea is that all societies and

cultures have the same and permanent structure. The characteristic of structuralism

are centered on the description of the actual state of the object through investigation,

the disclosure of its intrinsic properties that are not bound by time, and the

establishment of relationships between facts or elements of the system through

education. Structuralism reveals and describes the main structure of an object,

Bagus in Prasetia (Prasetia, 2020). Structuralism depicts an object and analyzes an

intrinsic elements of a work.

The study of structuralism encompasses a wide field and involves many

literary and linguistic scientists. In terms of substance and scholars’ views,

structuralism also has broad aspects, including that it can be understood as first, a

movement of mind; second, as a method; third, as an evolution of linguistic studies

from Saussure to Jacobson; and fourth, as a polemical study of poetic theory

between Jacobson and Levi-Strauss versus Riffaterre with his concept of

superreader, Scholes in F. Manshur (Manshur, 2019). Thus, the discussion on

structuralism is lengthy as it deals with the many aspects of literary life.

Structuralism is a methodology with ideological implications that unites all sciences

in to a new belief system.

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Structuralism contains certain values that can be seen clearly in the response

of structuralists to epistemological matters, particularly in the relationship of the

human subject to its own system of perception and language and to the objective

world, Scholes in F. Manshur (Manshur, 2019). From an epistemological

perspective, the notion of structure essentially means that a work or event in society

becomes a whole because there is a reciprocal relationship between its parts and

between the parts and the whole. This relationship is not only positive, such as

similarity and harmony, but also negative, such as opposition and conflict.

According to Luxemburg in Manshur (Manshur, 2019), the notion of structure

causes structuralists to attach importance to the relationships between the various

layer of a literary work. Thus, a structure can be seen from various perspectives.

Something is said to have a structure i fit consists of a parts that are functionally

related to each other. The parts depend on how the thing is viewed. In another sense,

sturcture is the way a building, an organism, or a whole is completely consturcted.

In this context, discussing the structure of a literary work as a living body,

one must inevitably first understand the structure of the story as a literary fact. The

section of the episodes in the story are expressed one by one as a unit of the literary

work. Thus, in structural terms, each structure in the story has its own individual

function that brings together the entire course of the story. If even one element of

the story structure is not revealed according to its function, the literary work is not

complete.

Structuralism is a way of finding reality not in individual things but in the

relationships between them. In this case, wittgenstein says that the world is the
 8

totality of facts, not the totality of thingking, and it is facts that state or create

problems. In this way, structuralism is like an object that belongs to another object

that has a relationship with each other. The state of an object is always connected

to its structure. In structuralism, form is part of the structure, and the structure of

facts (in literary texts) contains the structure of the problem as part of the totality of

the problems that exist in literary facts. In this case, structuralism tries to explore

the relationship between the literary system and the culture of which it is a part.

Structuralism likewise approaches the world of texts, constantly considering the

semantic aspects of each textual feature, Scholes in Prasetia (Prasetia, 2020).

Moreover, structuralism can claim a special place in literary research, as it

seeks to build a model of the literary system itself as an external reference for

individual research. The idea of structuralism is the idea of a system, a complete,

self-organizing one; it is an entity that adapts to new conditions by changing its

features while maintaining a systematic structure. Every literary unit, from

individual sentences to whole world sequences, can be seen in relation to the

concept of system. In particular, we can see individual works, literary genres, and

the whole of literature as related systems, and literature as a system sits within the

larger system of human culture, Scholes in Manshur (Manshur, 2019).

Structuralism is a theory that deals with the work as a whole and detaches

itself from the reader and the author (Mulawarman et al., 2021). Therefore,

structuralism theory belongs to the objective approach. The objective approach

must be based o nan understanding of the text of the literary work. By definition,

structuralism means the understanding of the elements, for example, the structure

itself and its interrelated mechanisms; on the one hand, the ralationship between
 9

elements and their totality. So, in order to fully understand the meaning of a literary

work, structural analysis, which is the analysis of the elements of the construction

of a literary work, is a stage that is difficult to pass or, more extreme, must be done.

From the various explanations above, it can be concluded that strcturalism, as

one of the views in literary science, is a theoretical and methodological instrumen

that serves to understand and express the content and message contained in a literary

work in an integral and comprehensive manner. Furthermore, to build a model of

the literary system. Structuralism is like an object that enters into another object

that, between one and the other, has a relationship.

2.2.The Parts of Structuralism

This study applied Robert Stanton’s structuralism theory to analysis.

Structuralism divides the intrinsic elements of fiction into two parts, namely, the

facts of the story and the means of the story. Stanton categorizes the facts of the

story into four elements, namely, plot, character, setting and theme. Meanwhile, the

means of the story consists of the title, point of view, language style and tone,

symbolism and irony (Stanton, 2007).

According to Robert Stanton’s (Stanton, 2007), explanation of structuralism

theory given above, the success of a study involving a literary work is primarily

determined by the researcher’s role as a serious reader. No literary concept or

principle can take the place of the serious reader, especially one who is full of

appreciation. Admittedly, the reason why some writers create literary works that are

hard to understand is typically the cause of careless reading. Sometimes writes

create stories that are too complex to finish reading quickly. It takes attention to
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detail simply to comprehend asingle event. Furthermore, while the incident is

understandable, readers’ comprehension of the entire story is premature and tends

to focus on the emotions and thoughts of the characters in the story. The following

structuralism explanation divides intrinsic elements into two parts.

2.2.1.The Facts of The Story

The facts of the story include the characters, the plot, the setting, and the

themes. These parts act as a record of the imaginative events occurring in a story.

These parts are referred to as the story’s factual level, or “factual structure.” An

aspect of a story that is emphasized from a single point of view is its factual

structure (Stanton, 2007). The following are the elements connected to the facts of

the story.

2.2.1.1.Plot

In common, a plot is the series of the events that occur in a story. The term

plot is usually limited to events that are causally related. A causal event is an event

that causes or is the result of other events that cannot be left unchecked because it

will affect the entire work (Stanton, 2007). A story has power i fit has an interesting

plot behind it. The conflict expressed by the author involves changes in behavior,

thoughts, emotions, and characters in this story, Fananie in Amali (Amali, 2022).

The plot is the backbone of the story. Unlike the other elements, it is self-

evident, though rarely discussed at length in an analysis. A story can never be fully

understood without an understanding of the events that link the plot, causality, and

effect. Like other elements, plot has its own laws; it must have a beginning, middle,

and end that are real, convincing, and logical, can create surprises, and can create
 11

and end tension (Stanton, 2007). The two basic elements that make up story are

“conflict” and “climax”. The main conflict is always fundamental, relating to

certain “traits” and “powers”.

2.2.1.2.Character

Characters, sometimes referred to as “figures”, are generally used in two

contexts. In the frist context, character refers to the individuals who appear in the

story. In the second text, character refers to the mix of different interests, desires,

emotions, and moral principles of those individuals. In many stories, one “main

character” can be found, which is the character associated with all the events in the

story. The reason a character acts the way he does is a called “motivations” (Stanton,

2007). Characters, or characterizations, is the process an author uses to create his

or her fictional characters. Fictional characters must be seen at a particular time and

place and must also be given a plausible motive for everything they do, Tarigan in

Amali (Amali, 2022).

2.2.1.3.Setting

According to Robert Stanton’s (Stanton, 2007), i tis said the stting is the

environment that encompasses an event in the story-the universe that interacts with

on-going events. The setting can take the form of decorations. It can also take the

form of a specific time. The setting sometimes affects the characters. The setting is

also sometimes an example of the depiction of a theme. In many stories, it can be

noticed that the background has the ability to bring out the emotional tone and mode

that the characters are in. This emotional tone is referred to as “atmosphere”. The

atmosphere can be a mirror that dpeicts the mood of the character’s psyche. The
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place setting relates to geographical issues, thee time setting relates to historical

issues, and the social setting relates to social life, Sayuti in Amali (Amali, 2022).

2.2.1.4.Themes

A theme is an aspect of the story that is aligned with meaning in a human

experience-something that makes an experience so memorable (Stanton, 2007).

Theme is an element that is closely related to every event and detail of the story,

paying attention to all the other elements in the literary work that arise and achieve

the theme, Tarigan in Amali (Amali, 2022). The theme makes the story more

focused, integrated, pointed, and impactful. The beginning and end will be fitting,

apropriate, and satisfying with a theme.

According to Stanton (Stanton, 2007), the theme must fulfill the following

citeria: first, a good interpretation must always consider the various details that

stand out in a story. Second, a good inteerpretation should not be influenced by

contradictory details of the story. Third, a good interpretation should not be

detached from evidence that is not clearly stated (only implicitly). Fourth, finally,

the interpretation made must be clearly explained by the related story.

2.2.2.The Means of The Story

Literary tools can be said to bet he author’s way of selecting and arranging

story details to produce meaningful patterns. This method is needed because, with

it, the reader can know various facts from the author’s point of view and understand

what these facts mean so that the experience can be felt together (Stanton, 2007).

The purpose of these graded means is to enable the reader to understand the facts
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of the story from the researcher’s point of view. The literary means include title,

point of view, language style and tone, symbol, and irony in literary works.

2.2.2.1.Title

The title is always related to the work at hand, so that the two become one.

The title relates to the story as a whole because it displays the characters, setting,

and theme. The title is a key to the meaning of the story. Usually, the title of literary

work has levels of meaning contained in the story. The title can also contain

allusions to conditions that the author wants to criticize or a summary of the actual

situation in the story (Stanton, 2007).

2.2.2.2.Point of View

According to Stanton (Stanton, 2007), in his book, he divides points of view

into four types. First, the “first-person” of the main character tells the story in his

own words. Secondly, “first-person”, tells the story done by one non-main (side)

character. Third, in “third-person”, the author refers to all the characters and their

emotions in the third person but only describes what one character sees, hears, and

thinks. Fourth, in “third person – unlimited”, the writer refers to each character and

positions them in the third person. The writer can also make some character sees,

hear, or think when no character present.

2.2.2.3.Language Style and Tone

Style is the author’s ability to use language, that is, according to the literature.

Although two authors use similar characters, settings, and plots, the results can be

much different. The difference is generally in the language and its delivery in

various aspects such as ryhthm, detail, sentence length, humor, complexity,

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concreteness, and the many images and metaphors. The combination of these

aspects (to a certain degree) creates a force (Stanton, 2007).

One element that is closely related to style is “tone”. Tone is the author’s

emotional attitude expressed in the story. Tone can come in many forms, both light,

romantic, ironic, mysterious, silent, dreamlike, or full of feeling (Stanton, 2007).

Tone is the author’s delivery of a work.

2.2.2.4.Symbol

In fiction, symbolism has three effetcs, each of which depends on the use of

the relevant symbol. First, a symbol that appears a tan important event in the story

will indicate the meaning of the event. Second, a symbol that appears repeatedly

reminds us of some fixed element in the universe. Third, symbols that appear in

different contexts will be able to help us find themes (Stanton, 2007).

One unique form of symbol is the “symbolic moment.” This terms can be

identified with the “key moment” or “moments of enlightenment” (these two terms

are often used by critics). According to Stanton (Stanton, 2007), it is said that the

symbolic moment, key moment, or moment of enlightenment is a tabula in which

all the visible details and physical relationship are loaded with meaning. Symbolism

is detail that is concrete and factual and has the power to bring out ideas and

emotions in the reader’s mind.

2.2.2.5.Irony

In general, irony is a way of expressing something that is contrary to what

was previously thought. Irony can be found in almost all stories (especially those

categorized as “good”). In fiction, there are two widely recognized types of irony,
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namely “dramatic irony” and “ironic tone” (Stanton, 2007). “Dramatic Irony” or

irony of plot and situation generally arises through the diametrical contrast between

appearance and reality, which occurs between a character’s intentions, goals, and

outcomes, or between expectations and what actually happens. These pairs of

elements are logically related to each other (usually through casual or casual

relations) (Stanton, 2007). “Ironic Tone” or “Verbal Ironic” is used to refer to a

mode of expression that conveys meaning in a opposite way.

2.3.Summary of the Story

The Purloined Letter is regarded as Poe’s best detective story out off all his

ratiocination pieces. This can be partly attributed to the absence of gothic

characteristics, such as graphic descriptions of corpses, as in “The Murders in the

Rue Morgue.” More importantly, though, is that this is the story that uses the

principle of ratiocination the best; it eloquently depicts the idea of the intuitive brain

at action as it logically solves an issue. Lastly, this story is told with the utmost

economy, more so than most of his others.

An anonymous narrator, who also recounts “The Murders in the Rue

Morgue,” sists in silence with his friend C. Auguste Dupin in a small parisian room.

He muses over the Rue Morgue murders, which Dupin solved in that story. The

perfect of the paris police, Monsieur G, arrives after deciding to speak with Dupin

once again. The prefect prpovides a case that is almost very simple: a letter that was

taken away from the royal apartments.

An important government figure named Minister D is the one the police know

took it. The perfect claimed that a young lady was in possession of the letter, which
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included information that would be harmful to a powerful person. The man

addressed in the letter entered the royal rooms as the young lady first started reading

it. Placing it on a table next to her, she tried not to raise his suspicions. Then the

enigmatic Minister D came in and read the letter. Knowing quickly how severe the

issue was, he quickly composed a letter of his own that bore similarities to the

important letter. Leaving the original letter beside it, he started talking about

Parisian affairs. He finally got the lady’s letter instead of his own as he was about

to leave the apartment. The prefect clarifies that Minister D has a lot of influence

over the woman.

Since then, the Minister has blackmailed the Lady’s, and the Lady has hired

the Resident to take the letter. The prefect assumed that the letter was hidden in the

Minister’s house or inside him. The prefect spent several months conducting a

thorough search, where he inspected every cubic centimeter of the Minister’s

residence and ordered spies to attack the Minister’s residence and systematicaally

search it with theft hooks. Besides, the prefect came empty-handed and came back

to Dupin to ask for free advice, while insisting that the puzzle of the letter was a

trivial matter.

Dupin explains how he took the letter, which is form a Minister’s

acquaintance, and paid for it during a social visit. He disguised the letter in such a

way, stating the interaction between the Minister and the prefect with a child’s

strategic game or a simple square game and stating that the prefect was “defeated”

because he failed to equate his intelligence with the Minister. Dupin also reveals

that he and the Minister have known each other for a long time, and by defeating

him, he has fulfilled a long-held desire for revenge.

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2.4.Previous Studies

This research is not the first to have researched structuralism. There have been

a lot of studies conducted in the past on this. The previous studies are a compilation

of research findings that are related to or suppported by relevant studies. The

following are a few of the studies that this research employs as references.

A study had been done Mulawarman, W. G., Putri, N. Q., Sulityowati, E. D.,

Rokhmansyah, A., & Wanda, H. N (Mulawarman et al., 2021), entitled “Study Of

Structuralism With Robert Stanton’s Perspective In A Novel Every Night Is

Separated By Alfiansyah On Language Learning Based On Literature.” The reason

the writer studied structuralism is because Robert Stanton’s structuralism is a study

that focuses on the means of storytelling by looking at the gender perspective as a

problem in the novel, which will be discussed in this research. The purpose of this

research is, firstly, to describe Robert Stanton’s structuralism in the form of literary

tools in developing the novel Every Night is Sepi by Alfiansyah; second, to describe

the gender perspective in the novel Every Night is Sepi by Alfiansyah. The theory

put forth by Robert Stanton (Stanton, 2007) was utilized to analyze the data. The

analysis in this study is completed using a qualitative approach. The findings

revealed the following structural components, focusing on the story’s method’s and

gender perspective: Literary devices are tools that the writer uses to organize and

arrange the story’s details. The novel Every Malam is Sepi is built by excellent

literary means because it meets all elements, namely: title, point of view, style and

tone, symbolism, and irony. Gender equality and injustice are the gender

perspectives presented in Every Night is Sepi. Marginalization, subordination,

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violence against women, stereotypes, and the double burden are examples of

injustices based on gender in the book.

Another study was done by Diani, I (Diani, 2019), entitled “Structural

Analysis Of ‘Rose For Emily’: A Short Story By William Faulkner.” The purpose

of this research is to explore the structure of the short story “Rose for Emily,”

written by William Faulkner in 1930. This study used a descriptive qualitative

methodology. Reading that brief story served as the source of data. The theme,

character, plot, conflict, and setting of the data were all structurally examined. The

study’s findings indicated that the story’s central topic is death and the protagonist’s

resistance to change in her life. Emily Grierson, a cloistered, secretive, and

mysterious woman, is one of the story’s characters. The father of Emily was Mr.

Grierson. He was a man of solitude. Emily’s partner was Hormer Baron. He was

funny and a kind man. Judge Steven was a decent man. Sartoris, the colonel, was a

decent man. Tobe showed loyalty. Emily is linked to the outside world by Tobe.

Last but not least, a study has been done by Wasniah, W., & Yulianeta

(Wasniah & Yulianeta Yulianeta, 2022), Y, entitled “Analysis of Structuralism and

Religious Values in the Short Story Pengemis dan Shalawat Badar in the Anthology

Short Story of Senyum Karyamin by Ahmad Tohari.” The purpose is to determine

the religious values and structuralism in the short story “Pengemis dan Shalawat

Badar.” Recognize the components of the short story. An analysis of structuralism

and religious values in the short story Pengemis dan Shalawat Badar in the Senyum

Karyamin anthology was conducted by Ahmad Tohari. The method the researcher

employs makes use of data analysis tools and alludes to qualitative research, with

the researcher serving as the primary instrument. Inductive data analysis is

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combined with the data collection method, which is then explained and concluded.

The study’s findings identified religious motifs, highlighted meaning over

generalizations, and provided explanations for numerous life lessons that might be

drawn from the short story.

Based on previous research, researcher have discussed structuralism. There is

a fact that there is a lack of studies on the use of structuralism in short stories;

therefore, researchers want to conduct research on structuralism in the short stories.

Not only that, researchers want to know the relationship between themes and

structuralism. Then, the researcher hopes that this research can represent how

structuralism is used in short stories.

 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

3.1. Research Method

The descriptive-qualitative method was used in the research to process the

data. According to Sugiyono (Sugiyono., 2010), who states that qualitative research

is descriptive. Qualitative research is based on the philosophy of postpositivism

because i tis used to investigate the conditions of natural objects (as an opponent of

experiment), where the researcher is the key instrument, sampling of data source is

done purposefully and snowbaal. The collected data was in the form of words rather

than numbers.

The descriptive method is a search for facts with appropriate interpretation.

Descriptive research studies problems in society as well as procedures that apply to

society and certain situations, including the relationship between activities,

attitudes, and views, as well as the on-going processes and influences of a

phenomenon. Descriptive research is a research method that attempts to describe

the object or subject being studied according to what it is, Samsu in Syahrizal

(Syahrizal, H., & Jailani, 2023).

Based on the above explanation, the researcher use the qualitative descriptive

of the research in conducting this research because it is suitable for the type of

research. In this research, the units analyzed are structuralism short stories and

interpreted using descriptive analysis.

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3.2. Data Source

The primary data source for this research is the short story, namely The

Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe, which is a short story by American author

Edgar Allan Poe. It is the third of his three detective stories featuring the fictional

C. Auguste Dupin, the other two being “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The

Mystery of Marie Roget.” These stories are considered to be important early

forerunners of the modern detective story. The data presented in the story is in the

form of words, phrases, paragraphs, and sentences. To suppport primary data, the

researcher uses several other journals, articles, and various other written materials

found on the internet.

3.3. Data Collection Techniques and Data Analysis

In this study, data was collected using observation methods and descriptive

techniques. According to Sudaryanto in Ramadyani (Ramadyani, 2019), it was said

the method of observing is observing: doing by observing, that is, observing the use

of languauge. In the data collection, the researchers performed several activities,

including the following: first, identifying data through text and story sections

related to structuralism in the shrt story The Purloined Letter. Second, classifying

the data obtained from a short story, sorting the text of the story section related to

the topic of structuralization research, and then writing the data into a note so that

it is easier for the author to analyze data that is closely connected with the topic

discussed.

Data analysis in qualitative research is carried out at the time of data

collection and after completing data collection within a certain period. A stated by
 22

Sudaryanto in Ramadyani (Ramadyani, 2019), data analysis is an attempt by

researchers to deal directly with the problems that exist in the data. To lead this

research, the researchers use qualitative methods. Researchers, as human

instruments, use observation and descriptive methods to gather data and create

reference methods (reference matching methods) to analyze the data. The six steps

are as follows: First, identify the data in a short story by making a few notes.

Second, read and re-read the entire data to again a comprehensive understanding,

then organize the data into a number of major topics, structural elements, and

themes. Third, categorize the data in the table into categorizes related to

structuralism. Fourth, sort the data by choosing the data that is relevant, classified,

and interpreted according to the analysis of the discourse. Fifth, create a link

between the data description and the theory to get the findings based on the purpose;

first, disaggregate the intrinsic elements in the short story; second, define the theme

by structuralism; third, describe the way the analysis is analyzed as it appears in the

brief story; and fourth, make an interpretation of the finding based on his

understanding of theory.
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