AN ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL COHESION IN FLANNERY
O’CONNORS SHORT STORY, “A GOOD MAN IT’S
HARD TO FIND”
A THESIS
BY:
DINA FAZMI CHAILY
REG. STUDENT NUMBER: 070705056
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA
FACULTY OF CULTURE
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MEDAN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Bismillahirrahmannirrahim,
Alhamdulilah, all her praise to ALLAH SWT gives me blessing, power, strenght, and love in her entire life and in terms her study, especially in completing this thesis.
The writer would like to express her gratituted and apperciation to the Dean of Faculty of Culture, Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A; The Head of English Department, Dr. H. Muhizar Muchtar, M.S and The Secretary of English Department, Dr. Hj. Nurlela, M.Hum, for the facilities and advice had obtained during her study in this faculty.
She also like to express her great gratitude to her supervisor, Dr. Hj. Masdiana Lubis, M.Hum and the co-supervisor Drs. M. Syafei Siregar, M.A, who given her a considerable amount of contribution f knowledge, spared their valuable time to comment, encourage, and guide her to finishing this thesis. And the writer also would like to thanks to all lectures of English Department.
home with keba and kibo), Unde wana,Unde Ida, Tante Irma, Tante ana, Tante Miss, Tante Anda and “Abang awak” who give her great support.
Then the writer also would like to express her greatful for her boyfriend Uthon Rangkuti S.T for support, attention, prays, love and give her motivation to finish this thesis. And special thanks are devoted to Tamadira MbemMbot (Tarri, Mala and Era) for giving great days and for their friendship, awareness, spirit and everything during her academic years and especially in the period of finishing this thesis.
Finally, she would like to thank to her friends (the students of English Department), especially Indah and Adit’08 for support and motivation. Thank you very much to all the people have mentioned above and to those who cannot be mentioned one by one.
May ALLAH SWT always bless us all, Amiin.
Medan, January 2012
ABSTRAK
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………. i
ABSTRACT……….. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………...….. iii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study……….. 1
1.2 Problem of the Study……… 5
1.3 Scope of the Study……… 5
1.4 Objectives of the Study………. 5
1.5 Significance of the Study……….. 5
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Defenition of Cohesion……… 5
2.1.1 The Functions of Discourse Analysis……….. 11
2.1.2 The Type of Discourse Analysis………. 13
2.2 The Concept of Cohesion………. 13
2.2.1 Text………..……… 14
2.2.2 Texture……….……… 15
2.2.3 Ties………..……… 16
2.2.4 Cohesion and Coherence……… 17
2.2.4.1 Lexical Cohesion……… 19
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Method……… 23
3.2 Data and Data Source……….. 23
3.3 Data Analysis Method……… 23
CHAPTER IV THE ANALYSIS OF DATA 4.1 The General Structure of The Short Story………. 27
4.2 Cohesion……… 29
4.2.1 Repetition………..……… 29
4.2.2 Synonymy………. 31
4.2.3 Antonymy………. 32
4.2.4 Hyponymy……… 33
4.2.5 Meronymy……… 33
4.3 Dominant Lexical Cohesion………. 33
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 5.1 Conclusions………..………... 36
5.2 Suggestions……… 37
ABSTRAK
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
Language is one aspect of culture. It expressed the human who use the culture. Linguistic is one of element of culture. If we analyze and describe about language, automatically we must analyze and describe of culture. No one can be separeted from language. It holds an important sociocultural in human life, and it is always used in every activities of human life. Tarigan (987:6) explained that language is the principal modality of human communication and as a tool to convey human activities in the term of communication.
Sumarlam (2004:173) states that cohession is semantic relation between one element in the text and some other element that is crucial for its interpretation. This other element must also be found within the text. Cohesion refers to the range of publisities that exist for linking something with what has gone before. Without cohesion the sentence system cannot be effectively activated all.
Then Halliday and Hassan (1976:298-299) say that cohesion is a necessary though not sufficient condition for the creation of a text. What creates text i textual or text forming, components of linguistic system, of which cohesion is one part. The sentence of a text, however, are related to each other with substantively and by cohesion, and it is a characteristic of a text that the sequence of the sentence can not be disturbed without destroying or altering the meaning radically. Within a text, the meaning of each sentence depends on its environment, including its cohesive relations with other sentences.
Cahyono (1995:231) states about cohesion in the context of linguistic follows: “Teks biasanya memiliki struktur tertentu. Struktur itu juga ditentukan oleh kelengkapan struktur kalimat, sebagian faktor yang menentukan kelengkapan struktur
kalimat itu diberikan dalam kohesi. Kohesi adalah ikatan-ikatan dan
hubungan-hubungan yang ada dalam teks.” (Texts usually have certain structure. The structure is
also determined by the completeness of sentence structure. Some of the factor determining the completeness of sentence structure is given in the form of cohesion. Cohesion is the ties and ulationship found in the texts).
According with Cahyono’s statements, writer should know that the analysis of the cohesive relation will give us a clear view how the speaker conveys his ideas. Besides, we would know what his conveyence is in good speaking or not.
Lexical cohesion refers to the relationship between or among word in a text. It is concerned with the content words and primarily related to that field. The field is discovered through the content words within a text. This field tends to have specialized vocabularies and tend to engage in specialized activities.
Hassan (1984:320) presents five categories of general lexical cohesion: 1. Repetition / Re-iteration (including inflection and derivation).
Repetition is the act or process instance of repeating or being repeated. Example:
Rebecca is in the race on Saturday. Everyone believes that she will win the 2. Synonymy (similarity of meaning)
race.
Synonymy is a word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or other words in a language.
For example:
They are taken to the clinic - they are taken to the hospital 3. Antonimy (opposite or contrastive meaning)
.
Antonymy is a word having a meaning opposite that of another word. For examples:
Wet season - dry
4. Hyponymy (classes / super ordination and subclasses / is a type of) season
Hyponymy is relation between two words in which the meaning of one of the words includes the meaning of another words.
For example:
5. Meronymy (whole part relation)
Meronymy is a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is subtituted for another with which is closely.
For example:
Law – family law, civil law, contract law, government law, international law, and compesation law.
Cook (in Abdul Rani et al. 2006:872) said that penggunaan alat kohesi itu memang penting untuk membentuk wacana yang utuh, tetapi tidak cukup
menggunakan penanda katon tersebut. Ada faktor lain seperti relevansi dan faktor
tekstual luar (extratextual factor) yang ikut mennetukan keutuhan wacana. (the use of
cohesion is important to form a whole discourse, but it is not enough if it uses such katon marker. There are other factors such as relevance and external textual factors
(extratextual factor) that will determine the integrity of the discourse).
1.2 Problem of the Analysis
In accordance with the scope of the analysis, the problems are:
1. What kinds of lexical cohesion are used in the short story “A Good Man It’s Hard to Find”?
2. What is the dominant lexical cohesion used in the short story “A Good Man It’s Hard to Find”?
1.3 Scope of the Analysis
There are kinds of cohesion such as reference, conjunction, and ellipsis, but in this study the writer just discusses about the genereal lexical cohesion.
1.4 Objective of the Study
By writing this thesis (skripsi). The writer expects to get some objectives, tehy are: 1. To find the lexical cohession used in short story “A Good Man It’s Hard to Find”. 2. To find the dominant lexical cohesion used in short story “A Good Man It’s
Hard to Find.”
1.5 Significance of the Study
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Definition of Discourse
Linguistic had focused its analysis on sentence until the begining of decade 1950s. Then in 1952, a famous linguist in linguistic discipline, Harris published an article entitled “Discourse Analysis” in Language magazine. He expressed a new opinion stating that the most complete unit of language is discourse, not a sentence. That opinion had brought linguist started to analyze language basic on discourse.
Discourse analysis is not only widely recognized as one of the vastest, but also the least defined areas in linguistics. One reason for this statement is that our understanding to discourse analysis is based on scholar from a number of academic disciplines that are actually very different from one to another. However, as the least defined areas in linguistics, the study of discourse analysis is supposed to be the most important study of language.
(1) The first is the classic definition of discourse as derived from formalist (in Hyme’s 1974b terms, “structural”) assumptions is that discourse as a unit above the sentence is not just a definiton of discourse, but a way of leading to a particular type of analysis. Although this definition and analysis to which it leads can be appealing, it also raises some problems. First, the view of discourse as a unit above the sentence allows one to focus quite easily upon how syntactic properties of clauses or sentences contribute to higher level structures of a text, e.g. speciific properties of sentences, such as word order to typotactic versus paratactic coordination, can be related to the properties of texts. Second, structural view of discourse places discourse in a hierachy of languagestructure thus developing yhe view that one can describe in a unitary way that continues unimpeded from morpheme to clause in sentence to discourse/
Concerning with the definition of discourse as language above the sentence, many contemporary structural analysis of discourse view the sentence as the unit of which discourse is comprised. One immediate problem ia that units in which people speak do not always seem like sentence.
(2) The second definition to be considered replaces what is basically a formalist trust with a functionalist trust discourse is language use. Schiffrin(1994:31) considers a functionalist view: “The study of discourse is the study of any aspect of language use.” And another statement is Brown and Yule’s (1984:1): “the analysis of discourse, is necessarily, the analysis of language use. As such, it can not be restricted the description of linguistics forms independent of the purposes or functions which
A definition of discourse as language use is consistent with functionalism in general discourse is viewed as a system (a socially and culturally organized way of speaking) through which particular functions are realized. This functional analysis focuses on how people use language to different ends; they are typically concerned less with the way people intend what they want to say to serve referential meanings, and to move with the unintended social culture, and expressive meanings stemmin g from how their utterances are situated in context.
(3) The third definition of discourse attemps to bridge the formalist-functionalis dichotomy discourse is utterances. This view captures the ides that discourse is above (larger than) other units of language; however, by saying that utterance (rather than sentence) is a unit of which discourse is comprised, we can suggest that discourse arises not as a collection of decontextualized units of language structure but of inherently contextualized units of language use. And the main problem with this definition is that the notion of “utterances” is not really all that clear. For many linguists, utterances are contextualized sentences, i.e. they are context bound (as well as text bound). Thus, defining discourse as uterances seems to balance both functional emphases on how language is used in context and the formal emphasis on extended pattern.
In another side three definitions of discourse above wich are influences by the differences in paradigm, there are still some linguist who give other definition of discourse. Few of them are as follows.
dan koherensi yang berkesinambungan yang mempunyai awal dan akhir yang
nyata disampaikan secara lisan dan tulisan.” (Discourse is one complete and
highest language unit above sentence and clause with continuous cohesion and coherence, which have the reality beginning and ending, communicate as verbal and writing.
(b) Stubbs (1983:1) explain that, “discourse analysis refers to the attmpts to study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause and therefore to study larger linguistic unit such as conversational exchanges or written texts.” (c) Edmonson (1981:4) in Tarigan (1981:4) says that discourse is a structural event
manifested in linguistic behavior or athers whereas a text is an arrangement of structural lingusitic expressins which forms a unity.
(d) Linde (1981:85) in Tarigan says that discourse is a stretch of continuous beginning and ending, and alsi a number of internal structure.
(e) Carlson (1983:xii-xiv) in Tarigan says, “Discourse is a stretch of continuous utterances (a sequence of individual sentences). So, it does not only consist of utterances or sentences which are grammatically well-formed.”
2.1.1 The Functions of Discourse Analysis
As the highest unit of language above the sentences or the clause is discourse. It has the main functions or targets just like the function of language, that is to transmit information in social communication. So the study of discourse analysis is to lead the language users to understand thoroughly about the discourse and also are qualified to produce a well-formed discourse.
It is important that the recifient gets the information correctly. For instance, when the doctor tells a nurse how to administer medicine to the patients, a policeman gives direction to the travelers, or a salesman explains the products to the buyers and so on. In each case, it matters that the speaker or writer should make what he/she says writes clear by. Every speaker or writer is expecting that his/her utterances or written text will be understood and appreciated by the recifients. In this situation, of course, the speaker or the writer will try to find the best way to make all events easily reported or uttered. So discourse is an appropriate unit for this purpose.
2.1.2 The Types of Discourse Analysis
After talking about the definitions and functions of discourse, then the writer would like to talk about the types of discourse analysis. This is very important to know how the types of discourse analysis which find in linguistic scientific.
In every text has different characteristic of discourse, such as narrative, conversation, exposition, poem, and so on. But the formal charactersw which characteriza each types of discourse in every language often differ from one language to another (Nida 1987:42).
According to his point of view, a discourse can be classified into various was, such follows: (a) based on the medium used; (b) based on the way of discourse is conveyed; (c) basic on thematic orientation; and (d) based on the form of discourse.
Based on the medium used, a discourse can be classified into: (1) Written discourse. This is a type of discourse that is conveyed in written form, through writting media. The reciifients should read the discourse if he/she wants to enjoy or comprehend it. The example of written discourse can be found in newspaper, magazine, book, and others. Written discourse can be an indirect discourse, a prose, a poem, and so on. (2) Spoken discourse is a type of discourse which is conveyed orally through speaking or spoken form. The recipients should listen to the discourse if he/she wants to enjoy or comprehend it. This includes casual conversation and speech.
grammatical construction of word, instead of quoting the words used by the speaker directly.
Beside that, based on the thematic orientation, a discouse can be classified into: (a) Explository discourse, is oriented in the subject and parts that tied logically which ignore the time and the expositor, and (b) Narrative discourse, a discourse which focused on time chronological, writen or spoken by first person or thirth person in the specific time, and oriented to subject linguistic, the all forms of this discourse based and tied by chronological time (Kridalaksana 1984:208).
Then, based on its form, a discouse can be clasified into; (a) Prose, is the type of discourse conveyed in the form of prose. It can be written or spoken, direct or indirect, and also expository or narrative. This type of discourse includes novel, short story, articles, and so on. (b) Play, is the type of discourse conveyed in the form of dialog, either spolen or written. This include causal conversation, classroom. Interaction, and so on. (c) Poem, is a type of discourse which ruled in stanza, line, rhytmh, and rhyme. It can be spoken or written.
2.2 The Concept of Cohesion
Halliday and Hasan (1976:4) state that the concepts of cohession is semantic one. It refers to relation of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it as a text. It means that the key to the concepts of cohesion is based on meaning, that is something wich exists in the language, not something which exists in people.
being said or written to its semantic environment. The essential component of these resources is cohesion. Furthermore, cohesive relation are relations between two or more elements in a text that are independent of the structure. For example between a personal pronoun and an antecedent proper name such as Robert... he, Stephanie... she, and so on. A semantic relation of this kind may set up either within a sentence or between sentences. Concerning with that, when it crosses a sentence boundary, and the concepts have been outlined by Halliday in his writing on stylistic, and the concepts was developed by his partner, Hasan, in her University of Edinburgh doctoral thesis. According to Halliday and Hasan, ther are four concepts of cohesion, i.e.: (1) text; (2) texture; (3) ties; and (4) cohesion and coherence.
2.2.1 Text
Text is the verbal record of communicative event. Halliday and Hasan (1976:1) state: “The word tect is used in linguistics to refer to any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length. That does form a unified whole.” This means that a text may be spoken or written, prose or verse, dialogue or monologue. It may be anything from a single proverb to a whole play, from a momentary cry for help to an all-day discussion on a committee.
A text is language in use. It is best regaerded as a semantic unit, a unit not of form but of meaning. A text is not a grammatical unit like a clause or a sentence and it is not defined by its sixe. Atext may be of any lengh.
warning, titles, announcements, inscription, and advertisement come out as less than one sentence in grammatical structure, and often consist of a verbal, nominal, adverbial or proporsional group.
However, there is no upper limit on the lengh of the text. A play, a lecture, a meeting, or an entire book may – and in many genres such as fiction typically does— comprise a sigle text in summary, text does not defined by its size but realization.
2.2.2 Texture
The concept of texture is entirely appropriate to express the property of being a text. A text has texture, and this is what distinguishes it from something that is not a text. It devices this texture from the fact that it functions as a unity with respect to its environment (Halliday and Hasan 1976:2). This also means that every discourse has a texture, which is identified by a thight relation between the sentences in the discourse itself and which makes the sentences coheren (logically related).
When a passage of English containing more than one sentence is perceived as a text, there will be the certain linguistic features present in that passage which can be identified as contributing to its total units and giving the texture.
(5) Jessica and I went to Deli Book Shop. We bought some dictionaries.
(6) Ani and her little sister are shopping. I am watching television in my home.
The sentences in example (5) above are related one another that make the reader or the hearer easy to understand what they are about. The word “we” om the example (5) clearly refers back (anaphoric to) “Jessica and I.” This gives a cohesive relation that dosen not occur in the example (6). This cohesive relation, in the example (a), makes a texture in that two sentences.
2.2.3 Ties
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976:4) the concepts of tie makes it possible to analyze a text in terms of its cohesive properties, and gives a systemic account of its pattern of texture. From this statement, we will know that the basic concept that is employed in analyzing the cohesion of a text is the tie.
A tie is a complex notion, because it doesn;t only include in the cohesive elements itself, but also that is presupposed by it. A tie is the best interpreted as a relation between those two elements.
For examples:
(7) Jessica goes to Deli Book Shop. She buys dictionaries and pencils.
In the example (7) the two sentences related one another. In which there is a cohesive relation between Jessica and she, which constitutes what we called tie. The particular kind which we can find in this example is called reference. While in example (8) there are actually two ties, of which one is reference kind occurs in the anaphoric relation of the three apple and the other is of a different kind and consists in the repetition of the word apple, a repetition which would still have a cohesive effect even if the two were not referring to the some oranges.
2.2.4 Cohesion and Coherence
The term cohesion can be said as the formal aspect of language in discourse or text part of the system of a language. From Halliday and Hasan (1976:3) state about it follows.
The concept of cohesion is semantic one, it refers to relation of meaning that exist within a text, and to define it as a text. Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some elements in the discourse is depend on that of another, the one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded axcept by recourse to it. When this happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed are there by at least potentially into a text.
However, by itself, cohesion would not be sufficient to enable us to make sense of what we read or hear. There must be another factor which leads as to distinguish connected texts which make sense from those which do not. This factor is usually described as coherence.
The key to the concept of coherence is not something which exists in the language, but something which exists in people. This means that it is people who make sense of what they read or hear, they try to arrive at an interpretation which is in line with their experience of what the way the world is.
For examples:
A: That’s the telephone. B: I’m in the bathroom. A: OK
There are certainly no cohesive ties within this fragment if discourse. By using the information contained in the sentences expressed, people can manage to make sense of what the other says. From the fragment above, we can characterize that brief conversation in the following ways:
A requests B to perform action
B states reason why he cannot comply with request A undertakes to perform something.
which is normal not simply “linguistic” knowledge, but something in themselves. In short, coherence has connection with the aspects of form and formal language.
2.2.4.1 Lexical Cohesion
Lexical cohesion is the cohesion effect achieved by the selection of the vocabulary. On the borderline between grammatical and lexical cohesion is the cohesive function of the class of general noun. Lexical cohesion has two types, namely reiteration and collocation.
Reiteration is a form of lexical cohesion which involves the repetition of a lexical items, the use of general word to refer back to a lexical item, and a number of things in the use of synonym, near synonym, or super-ordinate in the context of referent, that is, where the two occurrences have the same referent.
The instances of reiteration may be: (a) The same word,
(b) Synonym or near synonym, (c) Super-ordinate, or
(d) General word. For examples:
There is a boy climbing that high tree:
(a) The boy’s going to fall if he doesn’t take care.
(b) The lad’s going to fall if he doesn’t take care. (c) The child’s going to fall if he doesn’t take care. (d) The idiot’s going to fall if he doesn’t take care.
In (a) the word “boy” is repeated. There is repetition.
In (b) the reiteration takes the form of synonym namely “lad”. In (c) the superordinate of boy, that is, ”child.”
In (d) of a general word “idiot.”
However, not all general word are used cohesively, in fact only the nouns are. A general word is cohesively only when in the context of references, i.e. when it is accompanied by a reference item.
Then collocation. Every lexical item may enter into a cohesive device. But by itself, it carries no indication wheter it is functioning cohesively or not. That can be established only by reference to the text.
Collocation take places through occurrence of a different lexical items that is systematically related to the first one, as a synonym or super-ordinate of it. We can therefore extend the basis of the lexical relationship that features as a cohesive force and say that there is cohesion between any pair of lexical items which stand to each other in same recognizable lexicosemantic (word meaning) relation.
For examples:
Synonym or near synonym (sick … ill)
Super-ordinate (rose … flower)
Pair of opposites of complementary (dead … alive)
Antonym (high … low).
The idea of writing this thesis is based on some books which supply relevant information to the topic. The writer refers to the related analysis based on the cohesion in discourse. Some of theem are follows under the reveiew.
(1) Thomas Bloor (1985:51) in his book entitled The Functional Analysis of English, explains about cohesive ties in the text which can be claasified into four
main types: reference; ellipsis and subtitution, conjunction, and lexical cohesion. Further, the writer explain about the relationship between grammar and text. A text has some textual components of the grammar and the lexical cohesion is a part of cohesive components.
(2) McCharly (1991:11) in his book Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers explain tha grammatical cohesion and textual. The spoken and written
discourse display grammatical connection between individual clauses and utterances. The grammatical links can be classified as reference, ellipsis, subtitution, conjunction, and lexical cohesion.
(3) Halliday and Hassan (1976:61) say that the concept of cohesion refers to the relation of meaning that exists within the texts, and it is defined as a text. Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some elements of the discourse defends on that one or another.
(4) Halliday and Hassan (1984:320) present five categories of general lexical cohesion. They are: (a) repetition, (b) synonymy, (c) antonymy, (d) hyponymy, and (e) meronymy.
cohesion of thought found in a work of translation. The cohesions of thought beyond the sentences that she analyzed are anaphoric and cataphoric reference, opposition, redudancy, conjunction, subtitution, and punctuation.
CHAPTER III METHOD ANALYSIS 3.1Research Method
Prior to writting and completing the analysis, the writer applied library research. Bungin (2008:75) says that: “penelitian merupakan suatu kegiatan (ilmiah) yang ditempuh melalui serangkaian proses yang panjang.” (Research is a scientific activity through a series of long process). Bungin (2005:46) explains library research is “penelitian yang dilakukan di perpustakaan mengambil teknik perpustakaan sdebagai tempat penelitian dengan objek penelitiannya adalah bahan-bahan kepustakaan.” (Research is conducted in the library and the object of research is all of the documet, book etc. Which found in the library).
3.2 Data and Data Source
Data in the analysis are sentences contained lexical cohesion found in the short story “A Good Man It’s Hard to Find.” Not all data are to be analyzed so we need samples. The samples are taken purposively. It is done by selecting the data taken based on the purpose of the study (Hadi 2004:127).
3.3 Data Analysis Method
There are three steps that are used in analyzing the data. (1) Firstly, I read all the material carefully. (2) Secondly, I identify the cohesion used in the short story. (3) Thirdly, I will classify into kind of lexical cohesion devices by using Halliday’s and Hassan theory.
In order to get the lexical item that accur mostly in the text, the following formula will be used (Nawawi 1991:127).
X
--- x 100% = N Y
Y = Total number of all data N = Percentage of lexical cohesion X = Number of each of lexical cohesion
1. Repetition Example:
Rebecca is in the race on Saturday. Everyone believes that she will
with the race
2. Synonymy
.
In the sentences above the lexical cohesion used in race. This lexical cohesion is classified into repetition.
Example:
They are taken to the clinic - they are taken to the hospital
3. Antonymy
.
From the sentences above the lexical cohesion used are clinic and hospital. This lexical cohesion is classified into synonymy.
Example:
She wouldn’t stay at home when wet season, but she would stay dry
season.
4. Hyponymy Example:
She’ll win a trophy. The prize
5. Meronymy
won’t mean much to her.
From the sentence above lexical cohesion used are trophy and prize. This lexical cohesion is classified into hyponymy.
Example:
The grandmother offered to hold book of law in this case.
Because they have family in law relationship.
CHAPTER IV
THE ANALYSIS OF DATA
After t he writer discussed about the concept and definition of cohesion in the context of discourse analysis, then she analysis the data found in the short story entitled “A Good Man It’s Hard to Find.” written by Flannery O’Connors. This analysis will answer two problems of analysis. There are the kinds of lexical cohesion and the dominant lexical cohesion used in this short story.
Three steps are used in analyzing the data. Firstly, I read all the material carefully. Secondly, I identify the cohesion used in the short story. Thirdly, I will classify into kind of lexical cohesion devices by using Halliday’s and Hassan theory. And in order to get the percentage of lexical item that accur mostly in the text, the following formula will be used (Nawawi 1991:127) that is percentage of lexical cohesion, produced by number of each of lexical cohesion per total number of all data, then substituted to one hundred percents.
4.1 The General Structure of The Short Story
Based on reference it can be divided into (a) personal reference. In this short story, the example of personal references are: her, she, you, his, I, your, you, anyone, they, one, us, them, they, him, and so on. In (b) demonstrative references are: that, the, there, then, and this. Then in (c) comparative references are: often, middle of the back, on either side, seeing in her death, and so on.
Based on substitution, we can classify the devices cohesion in (a) nominal substitutions they are one, a, million, three, 55890, fifty-five, and so on. The (b) verbal substitutions they are do, was, were, and so on.
Based on ellipsis, the examples are … designed in it and his face was a yellow as the shirt. … One was a fat boy in black trousers and a red sweat shirt wih a silver stallon
In clausal ellipsis for example is: When the children finished all the comic books they had brought, they opened lunch and ate it.
Based on conjunctions: (a) additive conjuction is and, (b) adversative conjunction are children’s mother, my children, her son, and so on. (c) causal conjuction are: so, fo the cat to be left alone, and (d) temporal conjunction are: for three days, twenty minutes ago.
In this analysis the cohesion is classified into five categories as Halliday and Hasan (1984) described: repetition, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and moronymy.
4.2.1 Repetition
The examples of the repetition are:
4.1Bailey was the son she lived with, her only boy.
4.2 She sat in the middle of the back seat with John Wesey and June Star on either side of her.
4.3 Teennesse has the mountains and Georgia has the hills.
4.4The grandmother offered to hold the baby and the children’s mother passed him over the front seat to her.
4.5 When the children finished all the comic books they had brought, they opened the lunch and ate it.
4.6John Wesley took one the shape of a cow and an June Star guessed a cow and John Wesley said an automobile, and June Star said he didn’t play fair, and they began to slap each other over the grandmother.
4.7 When she told a story, she rolled her eyes and waved he head and was very dramatic.
4.8… John Wesley’s funny bone and he giggled and giggled but June Star didn’t think it was any good.
4.9 The tower was part stucco and part wood filling station and dance hall set in a clearing outside of Timothy.
her refers to the same person, a woman. This is the repetition aspect of cohesion. After
that, in the sentence 4.3 Teennesse has the mountains and Georgia has the hills. This sentence repeats on the word has. In this sentence there are two area in United State of America which is compared by writer especially its natural environment. Teennesse has mountain and Georgia has the hill. Two areas have a specific environment view.
In sentence (4.4) The grandmother offered to hold the baby and the children’s mother passed him over the front seat to her. The words grandmother repeated by
word her. The grandmother is one same person with word her in this sentence. The works of grandmother was offered to hold the baby. In another activity, the children’s mother passed him over the front seat to her.
In sentence (4.5), When the children finished all the comic books they had brought, they opened the lunch and ate it. The word which is repeated they. This word
refers to children. They were finished their activities in all the comic books and then brought. After that they have lunch.
In sentence (4.6) John Wesley took one the shape of a cow and an June Star guessed a cow and John Wesley said an automobile, and June Star said he didn’t play
fair, and they began to slap each other over the grandmother. This sentence repeats
two words which labeled person John Wesley and June Star, then united them as they. Then, in sentence (4.7) When she told a story, she rolled her eyes and waved he head and was very dramatic. One word she is repeated. She told a story and then
she rolled her eyes and waved he head and was very dramatic.
Furthermore sentence (4.9) The tower was part stucco and part
4.10 Bailey was the
wood filling
station and dance hall set in a clearing outside of Timothy. The word part is repeated
two time. This sentence explains that the tower was part stucco and part wood filling station and dance hall set in clearing outside of Timothy.
4.2.2 Synonymy
From this short story AGMHAF the examples of synonymy are: son she lived with, her only boy.
4.11 She sat in the middle of the back seat with John Wesley and June Star on either side of her.
4.12 ... they opened the lunch and ate it. The grand mother ate a peanut butter sandwich.
4.13 June Star said play something she could tap to so the children’s mother put another dime and played a fast number and June Star stapped out onto the dance floor and did her tap routine.
4.14 This place had better turn up in a minute … I’m going to turn around. 4.15 He feet jumped up … The instant the valise moved.
4.16 I said long ago, you get you a signature and sign everything you do and keep a copy of it.
From the sentence above (4.10) Bailey was the son she lived with, her only boy. The meaning words son and boy refers to the same person and synonymy. Furthermore in sentence (4.11) She sat in the middle of the back seat with John Wesley and June Star on either side of her. The word back seat and either side have
a synonymous meaning. In sentence (4.12) They opened the lunch and ate it. The grand mother ate a peanut butter sandwich. The word meaning lunch and ate are
Furthermore in the sentence (4.13) June Star said play something she could tap to so the children’s mother put another dime and played a fast number and June
Star stapped out onto the dance floor and did her tap routine. The words stapped and
tap are similar meaning.
Then in sentence (4.14) This place had better turn up in a minute … I’m going to turn around. In two words turn up and turn around have similar meaning. Beside
this, in sentence (4.15) He feet jumped up … The instant the valise moved. The word jumped up and moved have the similar meaning.
In the sentence (4.16) I said long ago, you get you a signature and sign
4.17 The grandmother’s
everything you do and keep a copy of it. There are two words signature and sign have
the similarity in meaning.
4.2.3 Antonymy
From this short story AGMHAF the examples of antonymy are: brown eyes but were very bright 4.18 I just know you are a
.
good man, but you are not a bit common 4.19 She
.
opened and closed he mouth several times before anything came out.
In these examples, every word underlined have an antonym meaning. For example in sentence (4.18) The grandmother’s brown eyes but were very bright. In this sentence between word brown and bright have antonym meaning. Brown expressed the dark and bright expressed the light or near white one. In sentence (4.19) I just know you
are a good man, but you are not a bit common. Between words goodman and bit
closed he mouth several times before anything came out. The two words opened and
closed have the antonym meaning. These meaning refers to mouth man activities in
the near time.
4.2.4 Hyponymy
From this short story AGMHAF the example of hyponymy is:
4.21. His hair was just beginning to grey and he wore silver rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look.
In that sentence, both grey and silver have the same hyponymy, that is colour.
4.2.5 Meronymy
4.22 The grandmother offered to hold book of law in this case. Because they have family in law
(1) Her 245 times,
relationship.
In the sentence (4.22) above the word law and family in law have the meronymy meaning.
4.3 Dominant Lexical Cohesion
After writer read the AGMHAF short story, I find some words which dominant in lexical cohesion context. For examples in sampling, words:
(4) That 69 times, (5) Go 57 times,
(6) Grandmother 51 times, (7) Children 31 times. (8) Bailey 30 times.
As in the examples above, the dominant lexical found in the name and persons. Then in the verb. This is as impact of the short story EGMHAF dominated by human activities in the one place in United States of America.
By using the formula:
Every sample words can be identified in the context of dominant lexical cohesion follows.
(7) Word children 31/6.361 x 100 % = 0,4873
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusion
Having analyzed the cohesion in the Flannery O’Connors short story writing, which entitled “A Good Man It’s Hard to Find,” the writer no comes to the conclusions dealing with the topic. In this conclusion writer answer the two main problems of analysis: kinds and dominant lexical cohesion.
The kinds of lexical cohesion found in the short story “A Good Man It’s Hard to Find,” can be classified into: repetition, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, meronymy. This lexical cohesion have a specific form, as expressed of O’Connor idea as a writer this short story. It cohesion expressed the West cultural. The dominant lexical in this short story is repetition in word person and verb and synonymy in person, tool, and verb. This is a style of this short story.
The lexical cohesion dominated by words which explain human name and persons. This is impact of the main role of scene this short story, which explore the human activities and idea, especially in its members. Besides that,
5.2 Suggestions
communication one. Analyzing the language automatically studying human communication.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Bloor, M. And T. Bloor, 1955. The Functional Abalysis of English. New York: Arnold.
Brown, G. And G. Yule, 1984. Discourse Analysis. London: Cambridge University Press.
Cahyono, B.Y., 1995. Kristal-kristal Ilmu Bahasa. Surabaya: Airlangga University Press.
Canfield, J. And M.V. Hansen, 1999. Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul. Westland Books Pvt. Ltd.
Coulhard, M., 1997. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis. London: Longman Group.
Effendy, Onong U., 1988. Ilmu Komunikasi Teori dan Praktek, Remadja Rosdakarya, Bandung.
Eggins, Susan, 1994. An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistic. London: Peter Publisher.
Halliday, M.A.K. And R. Hasan, 1976. Cohesion in English. London: Longman Group.
Halliday, 1978, Language as Social Semiotic. London: Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M.A.K. and R. Hassan, 1985. Language, Context, and Text, Aspect of Language in A Social Semiotic Perspective. Victoria: Deakin University. Halliday, M.A.K., 1994. An Introduction to Functional Grammar (Second Edition).
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Hassan, R., 1984. Coherence and Cohesive Harmony in Understanding Reading Comprehension. Newark Delaware: International Reading Association.
Kincaid, D. Lawrence, Wilbur Schramm, 1983. Asas-Asas Komunikasi Antar Manusia. Jakarta: LP3ES.
Martin, J.R., 1992. English Text: System and Structure. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benyamins Publishing Company.
McCarthy, M., 1991. Discourse Analyzing for Language Teachers. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Poynton, 1985. Language and Gender: making the difference. Victoria: Deakin University.
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Stubbs, M., 1983. Discourse Analysis: The Sociolinguistic Analysis of Natural Language. England: Basil Blackwell Publisher Ltd.
Tarigan, H.G., 1987. Pengajaran Wacana. Bandung: Penerbit Angkasa.
Wardani, Irma, 1997. An Analysis of Cohesive Ties in the Discourse of the Traditional Minangkabau Wedding Ceremony. Medan: Universitas Sumatera Utara.
APPENDIX
The titled:
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
By: Flannery O’Connor
Paragraph 1:
The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her
connection in East Tennesse and she was seizing at every change to change Bailey’s
mind. Bailey was the son she lived with, her only boy. He was sitting on the edge of his
chair at the table, bent overange sport section of the Journal. “Now look here, Bailey,”
she said, “See here, read this,” and she stood with one hand on her thin hip and the
other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. “Here this fellow that calls himself. The
Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here
what it says he did no these people. Just you read it. I wouldn’t take my children in any
direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if i
Paragraph 2:
Bailey didn’t look up from this reading so she wheeled around then and faced the
children’s mother, a young woman in slacks, whose face was a broad and innocent as a
cabbage and was tied around with a green head-kerchief that had two points on the
top like rabbit’s ears. She was sitting on the sofa, feeding the baby his apricots out of a
jar. “The children have been to Florida before,” the old lady said. “You all ought to take
them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and
he broad. They never have been to East Tennessse.”
Paragraph 3:
The childern’s mother didn’t seem to hear her but the eight-year-old baby. John
Wesley, a stocky child with glasses, said, “If you don’t want to go to Florida, why
dontcha stay at home?” He and the little girl, June Star, were reading the funny papers
on the floor.
Paragraph 4:
“She wouldn’t stay at home to be queen for a day,” June Star said without raising her
yellow head.
Paragraph 5:
“Yes and what would you do if this fellow. The Misfit, cauht you? The grandmother
Paragraph 6:
“I’d smack his face,” John Wesley said.
Paragraph 7:
“She wouldn’t stay at home for a million bucks,” June Star said. “Afraid she’d miss
something. She has to go everywhere we go.”
Paragraph 8:
“All right, Miss,” the grandmother said. “Just remember that the next time you want
me to curl your hair.”
Paragraph 9:
June Star said her hair was naturally curly
Paragraph 10:
The next morning the grandmother was the first one in the car, ready to go. She had
her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus in the corner, and
underneath it she was hidding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it. She didn’t intend
for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too
much and she was afraid he might brush against one of her gas burners and
accidentally asphyxiate himself. Her son, Bailey, didn’t like to arrive at a motel with a
Paragraph 11:
She sat in the middle of the back seat with John Wesley and June Star on either side of
her. Bailey and the children’s mother and the baby sat in front and they left Atlanta at
eight forty-five with the mileage on the car at 55890. The grandmother wrote this
down because she thought it would be interesting to say how many miles they had
been when they go back. It look them twenty minutes to reach the outskirts of the city.
Paragraph 12:
The old lady settled herself comfortably, removing her white cotton gloves and putting
them up with her purse on the shelf in front of the back window. The children’s
mother still had on slack and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief, but the
grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a lunch of white violets on the
brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs
were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple
spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of of an accident, any one seeing her
Paragraph 13:
She said she thought it was going to be agood day for driving, neither too hot nor too
cold, and she cautioned Bailey that the speed limit was fifty-five miles and hour and
that the patrolman hid themselves behind billboards And small clumps of trees and
sped out after you before you had a chance to slow down. She pointed out interesting
details of the scenery: Stone Mountain; the blue granite that in some places came up
to both sides of the highway; the brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple;
and the various crops that made rows of green lace-work on the ground. The trees
were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled. The children were
reading comic magazines and their mother and gone back to sleep.
Paragraph 14:
“Let’s through Georgia fast so we won’t have to look at it much,” John Wesley said.
Paragraph 15:
“If I were a little boy,” said grandmother, “I wouldn’t talk about my native state that
way. Tennessee has the mountains and Georgia has the hills.”
Paragraph 16:
“Teennessee is just a hilbilly dumping ground,” John Wesley said, “and Georgia is a
Paragraph 17:
“You said it,” June Star said.
Paragraph 18:
“In my time,” said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, “children were
more respectful of their native states and their parent and everything else. People did
right then. Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!” she said and pointed to a Negro child
standing in the door of a shack. “Wouldn’t that make a picture, now?” she asked and
they all turned and looked at the little Negro out of the back window. He waved
Paragraph 19:
“He didn’t have any britches on,” June Star said.
Paragraph 20:
“He probably didn’t have any,” the grandmother explained. “Little riggers in the
country don’t have things like we do. If I could paint that picture,” she said.
Paragraph 21:
Paragraph 22:
The grandmother offered to hold the baby and the children’s mother passed him over
the front seat to her. She set him on her knee and bounced him and told him about the
things they were passing. She rolled her eyes and screwed up her mouth and stuck her
leathery thin face into his smooth bland one. Occasionally he gave her a faraway smile.
They passed a large cotton field with five or fix graves fenced in the middle of it, like a
small island. “Look at the graveyard!” the grandmother said, pointing it out. “That was
the old family burying ground to the plantation.”
Paragraph 23:
“Where’s the plantation?” John Wesley asked.
Paragraph 24:
“Gone With the Wind” said the grandmother. “Ha. Ha.”
Paragraph 25:
When the children finished all the comic books they had brought, they opened the
lunch and ate it. The grandmother ate a peanut butter sandwich and an olive and
would not let the children throw the box and the paper napkins out the window. When
there was nothing else to do they played a game by choosing a cloud and making the
other two guess what shape it suggested. John Wesley took one the shape of a cow
and June Star guessed a cow and John Wesley said, an automobile, and June Star said
Paragraph 26:
The grandmother said she would tell them a story if they would keep quiet. When she
told a story, she rolled her eyes and waved her head and was very dramatic. She said
once when she was a maiden lady she had been courted by a Mr. Edgar Atkins
Teagarden from Jasper, Georgia. She said he was a very good-looking mand and a
gentleman and that he brought her a watermelon every Saturday afternoon with his
initials cut in it, E.A.T. Well, one Saturday, she said, Mr. Teagarden brought the
watermelon and there was nobody at home and he left it on the front porch and
returned in his buggy to Jasper, but she never got the watermelon, she said, because a
nigger boy are ate it when he saw the initials, E.A.T.! This story tickled John Wesley’s
funny bone and he giggled and giggled but June Star didn’t think it was any good. She
said she wouldn’t marry a man that just brought her a watermelon on Saturday. The
grandmother said she would have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a
gentle man and had bought Coca-Cola stock when it first came out and that he had
died a few years ago, a very wealthy man.
Paragraph 27:
They stopped at The Tower for barbequed sand-wiches. The Tower was part stucco
and part wood filling station and dance hall set in a clearing outside of Timothy. A fat
man named Red Sammy Butts ran it and there were signs stuck here and there on the
building and for miles ud and down the highway saying, TRY RED SAMMY’S FAMOUS
BARBECUE. NONE LIKE FAMOUS RED SAMMY’S! RED SAM! THE FAT BOY WITH THE
Paragraph 28:
Red Sammy was lying on the bare ground outside The Tower with his head under a
truck while a gray monkey about a foot thig, chained to a small chinaberry tree,
chartered nearby. The monkey sprang back into the tree and got on the highest limb as
soon as he saw the children jump out of the car and run toward him.
Paragraph 29:
Inside, The Tower was a long dark room with a counter at one end and tables at the
other and dancing space in the middle. They all sat down at a board table next to the
nickelodeon and Red Sam’s wife, a tall burnt-brown woman with hair and eyes lighter
than her skin, came and took their order. The children’s mother put a dime in the
machine and played “The Tennesee Waltz,” and the grandmother said that tune
always made her want to dance. She asked Bailey if he would like to dance but he only
glared at her. He didn’t have a naturally sunny disposition like she did and trips made
him nervous. The grandmother’s brown eyes were very bright. She swayed her head
from side to side and pretended she was dancing in her chair. June Star said play
something she could tap to so the children’s mother put in another dime and played a
fast number and June Star stapped out onto the dance floor and did her tap routine.
Paragraph 30:
“Ainn’t she cute?” Red Sam’s wife said, leaning over the counter. :Would you like to
Paragraph 31:
“No I certainly wouldn’t,” June Star said. “I wouldn’t live in a broken-down place like
this for a million bucks!” and she ran back to the table.
Paragraph 32:
“Ain’t she cute?” the woman repeated, streching her mouth politely.
Paragraph 33:
“Arn’t you ashamed?” hissed the grandmother.
Paragraph 34:
Red Sam came in and told his wife to quit lounging on the counterand hurry up with
these peoples order. His khaki trouser reached just to his hip bones and his stomach
hung over them like a sack of meal swaying under his shirt. He came over and sat down
at a table nearby and let out a combination sigh and yodel. “You can’t win,” he said.
“You can’t win,” and he wiped his sweating red face off with a gray handkerchief.
Paragraph 35:
“People are certainly not nice like they used to be,” said the grandmother.
Paragraph 36:
“Two fellers come in here last week,” Red Sammy said, “driving a Chrysler. It was a old
beat-up car but it was a good one and these boys looked all right to me. Said they
worked at the mill and you know I let them tellers charge the gas they brought? Now
why did I do that?”
Paragraph 37:
“Because you’re a good man!” the grandmother said at once.
Paragraph 38:
Paragraph 39:
His wife brought the orders, carrying the five plates all at once without a tray, two in
each hand and one balanced on her arm. “It isn’t soul in this green world of God’s that
you can trust,” she said. “And I don’t count nobody out of that, not nobody,” looking at
Red Sammy.
Paragraph 40:
“Did you read abot the criminal, The Misfit, that’s escaped?” asked the grandmother.
Paragraph 41:
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he didn’t attack this place right here,” said the woman.
“If he hears about it being here, I wouldn’t be none surprised to see him. If he bears
it’s two-cent in the cash register, I wouldn’t be a tall surprise if he ...”
Paragraph 42:
“That’ll do,” Red Sam said. “Go being these people their Co’-Colas,” and the woman
Paragraph 43:
“A good man is hard to find,” Red Sammy said. “Everythink is getting terrible. I
remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no
more.”
Paragraph 44:
He and the grandmother discussed better times. The old lady said that in her opinion
Europe was entirely to blame for the may things were now. She said the may Europe
acted you would think we were made of money and Red Sam said it was no use talking
about it, she was exactly right. The children ran outside into the white sunlight and
looked at the monkey in the lacy chinaberry tree. He was busy catching fleas on
Paragraph 45:
They drove off again into the hot afternoon. The grandmother took cat naps and woke
up every few minutes with her own snoring. Outside of Toomsboro she woke up and
recalled on old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was
a young lady. She said the house had six white columns across the front and that there
was an avenue of oaks leading up to it and two little wooden trellis arbors on either
side in fornt where you sat down with your suitor after a stroll in the garden. She
recalled exactly which road to turn off to get to it. She knew that Bailey would not be
willing to lose any time looking at an old house, but the more she talked about it, the
more she wanted to see it once again and find out if the little twin arbors will still
standing. “There was a secret:-panel in this house,” she said craftily, not telling the
truth but wishing that she were,” and the story went that all the family silver was
hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never founbd ...”
Paragraph 46:
“Hey!” John Wesley said. “Let’s go see it! Well find it! We’ll poke all the woodwork and
find it! Who lives there? Where do you turn off at? Hey Pop, can’t we turn off there?”
Paragraph 47:
“We never have seen a house with a secret panel!” June Star shrieked. “Let’s go to the
house with the secret panel! Hey Pop, can’t we go see the house with the secret
Paragraph 48:
“It’s not far from here, I know,” the grandmother said. “It wouldn’t take over twenty
minutes.”
Paragraph 49:
Bailey was looking straight ahead. His jaw was as rigid as a hosesshoe. “No,” he said.
Paragraph 50:
The children began to yell and scream that they wanted to see the house with the
secret panel. John Wesley kicked the back of the front seat and June Star hung over
her mother’s shoulder and whined desperately into her car that they never had any
fun even on their vocation that they could never do what THEY wanted to do. The baby
began to scream and John Wesley kicked the back of the seat so hard that his father
could feel the blows in his kidney.
Paragraph 51:
“All right!” he shouted and drew the car to a stop at the side of the road, “Will you all
shut up? Will you all just up for one second? If you don’t shut up, we wan’t go
anywhere.”
Paragraph 52:
Paragraph 53:
“All right,” Bailey said, “but get this: this is the only time we’re going to stop for
anything like this. This is the one and only time.”
Paragraph 54:
“The dirt road that you have to turn down is about a mile back,” the grandmother
directed. “I marked it when we passed.”
Paragraph 55:
“A dirt road,” Bailey groaned.
Paragraph 56:
After they had turned around and were headed toward the dirt road, the grandmother
recalled other points about the house, the beautiful glass over the front doorway and
the candle-lamp in the hall. John Wesley said that the secret panel was probably in the
fireplace.
Paragraph 57:
Paragraph 58:
“While you all talk to the people in front, I’ll run around behind and get in a window,”
John Wesley suggested.
Paragraph 59:
“We’ll all stay in teh car,” his mother said.
Paragraph 60:
They turned onto the dirt road and the car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.
The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles
was a day’s journey. The dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and
sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking
down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would
be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them.
Paragraph 61:
“This place had better turn up in a minute,” Bailey said, “or I’m going to turn around.”
Paragraph 62:
Paragraph 63:
“It’s not much farther,” the grandmother said and just as she said it, a horrible thought
came to her. The thought was so embarassing that she turned red in the face and her
eyes dilated and her her feet jumped up, upsetting her valise in the corner. The instant
the valise moved, the newspaper top she had over the basket under it rose with a snarl
and Pitty Sing, the cat, sprang onto Bailey’s shoulder.
Paragraph 64:
The children wre thrown to the floor and their mother, clutching the baby, was thrown
out the door onto the ground; the old lady was thrown into the front seat. The car
turned over once and landed right-side-up in a gulch off the side of the road. Bailey
remained in the driver’s seat with the cat gray-striped with a broad white face and an
orange nose clinging to his neck like a caterpillar.
Paragraph 65:
As soon as the children saw they could move their arms and legs, they scrambled out
of the car, shouting. “We’ve had an ACCIDENT!” The grandmother was curled up under
the dashboard, hoping she was sitting against the side of the red gutted ditch, holding
the screaming baby, but she only had a cut down her face and a broken shoulder.
Paragraph 66:
“But nobody’s killed,” June Star said with disappointment as the grandmother limped
out of the car, her hat still pinned to her head but the broken front brim standing up at
a jaunty angle and the violet spray hanging off the side. They all sat down in the ditch,
exept the children, to recover from the shock. They were all shaking.
Paragraph 67:
“Maybe a car will come along,” said the children’s mother hoarsely.
Paragraph 68:
“I believe I have injured an organ,” said the grandmother, pressing her side, but no one
answered her. Bailey’s teeth were clattering. He had on a yellow sport shirt with bright
blue parrots designed in it and his face was a yellow as the shirt. The grandmother
Paragraph 69:
The road was about ten feet above and they could see only the top of the trees on the
other side of it. Behind the ditch they were sitting in there were more woods, tall and
dark and deep. In a few minutes they saw a car some distance away on top of a hill,
coming slowly as if the occupants were watching them. The grandmother stood up and
waved both arms dramatically to attract their attention. The car continued to come on
slowly, disappeared around a bend and appeared again, moving even slower, on top of
the hill they had gone over. It was a big black battered hearselike automobile. There
were three men in it.
Paragraph 70:
It came to a stop just over them and for some minutes, the driver looked down with a
steady expressionless gaze to where they were sitting, and didn’t speak. Then he
turned his head and muttured something to the other two and they got out. One was a
fat boy in black trousers and a red sweat shirt with a silver stallion embossed on the
front of it. He moved around on the right side of them and stood staring, his month
partly open in kind of loose grin. The other had on khaki pants and a ble striped coat
and a gray hat pulled down very low, hiding most of his face. He came around slowly
Paragraph 71:
The driver got out of the car and stood by the side of it, looking down at them. He was
an older man than the other two. His hair was just beginning to gray and he wore
silver-rimmed spectacles that gave him a scholarly look. He had a long creased face
and didn’t have on any shirt on undershirt. He had on blue jeans that were too tight for
him and was holding a black hat and a gun. The two boys also had guns.
Paragraph 72:
“We’ve had an ACCIDENT!” the children screamed.
Paragraph 73:
The grandmother had the peculiar that be berpetacled man was someone she knew.
His face was as familiar to her as if she had known him all her life but she could not
recall who he was. He moved away from the car and began to come down the
embankment, placing his feet carefully so that he wouldn’t slip. He had on tan and
white shoes and no socks, and his ankles were red and thin. “Good afternoon,” he said.
“I see you all had you a little spill.”
Paragraph 74:
Paragraph 75:
“Once,” he corrected. “We seen it happen. Try their car and see will it run, Hiram,” he
said quietly to the boy with the gray hat.
Paragraph 76:
“What you got that gun for?” John Wesley asked. “Whatcha gonna do with that gun?”
Paragraph 77:
“Lady,” the man said to the children’s mother, “would you mind calling them children
to sit down by you? Children make me nervous. I want all you all to sit down right
together there where you’re at.”
Paragraph 78:
“What are you telling US what to do for?” June Star asked.
Paragraph 79:
Behind them the line of woods gaped like a dark open mouth. “Come here,” said their
