Download Characterization & New Structure in 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky and more Summaries Literature in PDF only on Docsity!
7
CHAPTER II
Theoretical Foundation
This chapter concerns the theoretical framework of the present study to analyze the main character as a young adult in a coming-of-age novel entitled “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (1999) by Stephen Chbosky. This chapter also discusses some theories related to the main character and characterization theory.
2.1 Novel Novel is a part of literature, every pieces of literature must be a structural that played some roles in order to make the story more alive. That structural must related and supporting to each other. In this case, to find a characterization to built the personality growth of the main character. According to Wicaksono (2014:75): Istilah novelladalam istilah Indonesia novellet, yang berarti sebuah karya prosa dan novell mengandung pengertian yang sama dengan istilah fiksi yang panjangnya cukupan, tidak terlalu panjang, namun tidak terlalu pendek. terms novella and novell contains the same meaning with the term in” (The Indonesian, novellet, which means a work of prose fiction long enough, not too long and too short). From the statement above, novel is a literary work that is consist of so many sentences as story, novel is divided in two parts which is fiction novel and nonfiction novel. Fiction novel is about a fictitious thing and never happened in the real life, the story, the character is depend on the author’s creation. Non-fiction novel is a true story novel, all of thing in the novel is a true story and based on the reality. The author can get the inspiration from them, they friends or from people around them.
8
Sudjiman (1998:53) said that novel is a fictious process that presents the character and displays a series of events and backgrounds that are arranged.
Sumardjo & Saini (1997:29) said that novel is a story with the prose fith a long shape, this long shape means has the complex plot, many characters and various setting. Kurnia (1999:65) said that in the novel, there are two centers of the world that plays an important role in human life (figure). These two worlds control the atmosphere of life on all sides, the first is the gave and the second is the artist’s life (painter). Novel is a literary work that has so many genres which are; Romance, Horror, Thriller, Adult, Comedy, Inspiration, and Epistolary novel. Epistolary novel is a novel that written as a series of documents, the usual form is letters, altough diary entries, newspaper and other documents are sometimes used. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an coming-of-age epistolary novel, the main character (Charlie) is used to wrote his everyday experience in the paper, like a diary.
According to Wijaya (2001:41) Novel is a work to upside down the reality. Blurring the limit of imagination and concrete experience. Confound between emotional and thoughts. Ignited the sensitivity of instinct and the brightness of brains. Novel is an inner experince. Describing the real and not real in life with the words. Novel is a work to reveal the hidden meaning in life (2001:39).
10
c. Complication: complication is part of story in which a problem gets complicatedand a problem between the antagonist and the protagonist get worst. d. Complication also refers to a development of plot.Climax: climax is the peak of story that is about something to happen or not, at which situation an effect has to be accepted. e. Resolution: resolution is the end of the story where there is no problem anymore. 2.2.2 Character Character is someone who act or perform in the event or incident in the novel based on the story. According Abrams (1999:76), character is people who are appered in a narrative prose or novel and it is interpreted by the readers as a person who has moral quality and certain tendency such as being expressed in what they say and what they do. If a character experience significant, life-altering events, we, as readers expect that the character will somehow be different as a result of those events. According to Aminuddin (2002:79), the character is the cast who carried the events in fiction that the story is able to establish a story ,there are three kinds of the characters in the novel or other literary works:
- The Protagonist: the protagonist is a character who supporting the story of thenovel. Usually, the protagonist is the main character and have a good
- characteristic.The Antagoist: the antagonist is the character who have a bad characteristic, he/she is always opposite with the main character, usually the antagonistalways have a bad plan to drop main character.
- The Tritagonist: the tritagonist is a netral character, usually the tritagonistgive some support to the antagonist or protagonist.
2.2.3 Setting Setting is a something or a situation that cover the character in the story, it can be a place, time and the atmosphere. Setting in this form is only for the place and time of occurence. As Nurgiyantoro (2009:220), setting or “latar” consist of neutral and
11
typical setting. Neutral setting is not decribe clearly, which means is not describe about the places, times and the environment in the story and it does not have a function. Different with the neutral, the typical setting is describing the characteristic, the places and the times in the novel, it can make the reader to imagine the story easily.
2.2.4 Moral Message Moral Message is the message that the author wants to deliver the readers, based on the whole story in the novel. Moral message can give a knowledge, education and sacrifice to the reader. Kenny (1966:89) state in Nurgiyantoro (2013:430) moral in literary work usually as a suggestion that related to the morality lesson and can be interpreted through the story which is related to the readers.
2.2.5 Point of View Siswandarti (2009:44) point of view is a author’s position in the fiction. Point of view is about how the author of the novel tells about the character, there are two types of point of view, according to Nurgiyantoro (2009:256) point of view is consist of:
- The first person’s point of view : singular (me, me), plural (us,us)
- The third person’s point of view : singular (he/she, person’s name), plural (them, their name).
13
B. Characterization through appearance: to describe the characterphysically, such as: the clothes or how the expressions of the C. character.Characterization by the author: to describe the character by the exposition and the direct comments from the auhtor of the novel.
- Indirect characterization (showing): dialogue and act, this method showsor describe the main character by the dialogue and action. A. B. Characterization through the dialogue .Characterization by the location and situation of the C. conversation.Characterization by the character’s identity of the author’s D. desrcription.Characterization by mental quality. E. F. Characterization by the vioces, pressure, dialect and vocabulary.Characterization through the acts of the characters.
2.4 Main Character and Sub Character Basically in the novel, there is a main character or central character supporting character or periferal character. Main character is a preferred character and most- told in the novel, the main character is not always showed in each part or chapter in the novel, but the main character is related to the other characters. The main character is the character who prefers the story in the novel. He is the most showed character as subject of the incident, Nurgiyantoro (2013:176). Usually, the main character have a good characteristic but the main character is not always have a good fate, and sub character or periferal character is a character that is not has importent role in the story of the novel, but the sub character can give a good motivation or they just can make the main character down or broke in the story. T tiap halaman buku cerita yang bersangkutan, tetapi tokoh utama juga tidakokoh utama dapat saja hadir dalam setiap kejadian dan dapat ditemui dalam bisa muncul dalam bab, namun ternyata dalam kejadian atau bab tersebut tetap erat kaitannya setiap kejadian atau tidak langsung ditunjuk dalam setiap dengan tokoh utama. (The main character may be present in every scene and
14
can be found in each page of the novel or the book, but the main character alsocan not appearin any scene or indirectly appointed in each chapter, but apparently in the scene or chapter it remains closely related to the maincharacter.) Nurgiyantoro, (2013:176).
2.5 Personality Personality is something that exist in someone since they were born, personality can also change from various factors such as family, friends or from themselves. Someone can have a good or bad personality, it based on themselves thoughts or acted. Personality is something unique and speific. Everyone is a unique person in oneself. Everyone has specific characteristic for making adjustments, personality exhibits self-consciousness as one of its main characteristics. Man is described as a person or as having a personality when the idea of self enters into his consciousness. Everyone personality is the product of heredity and environment. Both of the child’s is not born with a personality but develops and one as a result on countuous interaction with his environment, Madhava (2008: 7-8).
2.6 Biography of Stephen Chbosky Stephen Chbosky is an American novelist, screenwriter and film director. He was born on January 25th 1970, probably in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Lea (nee Meyer) and Fred G. Chbosky and his sister, Stancy. Chbosky graduated from Upper St. Clair High School in 1988, around which time he met Stewart Stern, screenwriter of the Rebel without a Cause , they are became good friend, and Stewart also became Chbosky’s mentor and proved a major influence on Chbosky’s
16
Chbosky currently resides in Los Angeles, California. (Available at http://en.m.wikipedia.org./wiki/Stephen_Chbosky)
2.7 Synopsis “ The Perks of Being a Wallflower” This novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower generally issues the topics of common problems such as awkwardness of growing up, sex, suicide, drugs, friends, family and homosexuality that are often faced by teenagers. This novel talks about a boy named Charlie Kelmeckis, he is a teenager that have a self-problem called introvert. He is really quite, shy, he is a bulling-victim. He has been traumatized by the death of his friend in the past and he is always consumption an anti-depressant to control his trauma. With his self-problem he have to survive in his new school as a first grade student. In the first day in school, he just have one friend that is his English teacher named Bill and he have to survive alone in school. Behind his introvert character, he is really smart but he does not have a bravery to speak up in the class. Writing is Charlie’s hobby, he uniquely share his world to an anonymous friend by wriring a letter which is unknowingly sent or not, he is always write a letter like a diary, he writes everything that happened in his life. Charlie live in Pittsburhg, Pennsylvanya. Charlie has a tempramental father, emotional mother, an elder brother who is coincidentaly a football player, a famous older sister and used to live with his beloved aunt, she is aunt Helen. Charlie always thinks that no one in his family after aunt Helen died who listens and understands him well.
17
The story starts with Charlie’s anxiety and depression before his first day in high school. He always feels lonely since his lost his good friend, Michael and his dearest aunt, Helen. Nobody wants to be his friend, because people think that he is a peculiar boy. His only friend at school is Bill, Bill is his English teacher who always give Charlie a good book to read and to write an essay. One day, he met two people in his school tournament, they are Sam (girl) and Patrick (boy) and they are step brother and step sister. With Sam and Patrick, Charlie can do the things that he never ever did before like drugs, sex and other freedom things. Patrick calls Charlie “wallflower”, “wallflower” refers to a person who enjoys watching and observing people without wanting to participate due to his or her personality of being shy.
