AN ANALYSIS ON FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE USED BY THE MINOR CHARACTERS IN MARY HIGGINS CLARKÂ’S NOVEL Â“TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUEÂ”

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AN ANALYSIS ON FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE USED BY THE

MINOR CHARACTERS IN MARY HIGGINS CLARK’S

NOVEL “TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE”

THESIS

This thesis submitted to meet one of the requirements to

achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

By: MARSIH 201010100311151

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

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i

This thesis written by Marsih was approved on March 27, 2014

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This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of the Faculty of Teacher

Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang

and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Education

on March 27, 2014

Approved by:

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Praise and thanks due to Allah SWT, the Merciful and Charitable. Because

He has given guidance, blessing and affection to the researcher to finish her thesis

of “An Analysis on Figurative Language Used by the Minor Characters in

Mary Higgins Clark’s Novel “Two Little Girls in Blue””.

The deepest gratitude is expressed to her advisors, Drs. Mas’udi M.Ed, her

first advisor, and Dra. Erly wahyuni, M.Si, her second advisor, for their invaluable

advices, patience, and suggestion during the thesis consultation. In addition, her

sincere gratitude is also extended to Riza Elfana, S.Pd, M.A as her first examiner,

and Riski Lestiono, M.A as her second examiner who have given correction and

comment to the completion of this thesis that made this thesis was better and

almost perfect.

The researcher would like to express her special thanks for her beloved

mother, father, brother, and sister who have given motivation, pray and love. The

special thanks for her beloved spouse for his support, pray, and attention so the

writer can finish this thesis. Finally, may Allah SWT always bless them all and

write their kindness as worship.

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REFERENCES

Abrams, M. H. 1999. A Glossary of Literary Terms (Seventh Edition). United States: Heinle.

Ambarsari, Shinta. 2013.An Analysis of Figurative Language and Message on the Song “Heal the World” Sung by Michael Jackson. Unpublished Thesis. Malang: Muhammadiyah University Malang.

Arp, R. Thomas and Greg Johnson. 2006. Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense (Ninth Edition). United States: Thomson Wadsworth.

Ary, Donald, et. all. 2006. Introduction to Research in Education (Seventh Edition). By Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Beaty, Jerome, et. all. 2002. The Norton Introduction to Literature (Shorter Eight Edition). United States: W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. 2006. The Norton Introduction to Literature (Shorter Ninth Edition). United States: W.W Norton & Company, Inc.

Clark, Higgins, Mary. 2006.Two Little Girls in Blue. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Definition of Meaning.(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/meaning, Accessed on November 10, 2013 at 15:48 pm).

DiYanni, Robert. 2002. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (Fifth Edition). New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams. 2003.An Introduction to Language. United States: Heinle.

Gershenbaum, Barbara Lipkien. 2011. Two Little Girls in Blue. ( http://mylibrarycardworeout.com/2011/08/17/two-little-girls-in-blue-by-mary-higgins-clark/,Accessed on November 10, 2013 at 21:53 pm)

Kennedy, X. J. 1983. Literature, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama (Third Edition). Boston: Little Brown and Company.

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Macmillan, Literature Series. 1987. Understanding Literature. California: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Madden, Frank. 2007. Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing about Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay (Third Edition). New York: Pearson Education.

Mary Higgins Clark Biography. (http://www.Biography.com/People/Mary-Higgins-Clark-278967, Accessed on March 18, 2014 at 18:12 pm)

Oklahoma, James. 1997.Research Design in Occupational Education.

(http://www.okstate.edu/ag/agedcm4h/academic/aged5980a/5980/newpa ge110.htm, Accessed on November 19, 2013 at 11.26 am)

Pretoria, Niekerk. 2009. Research Design and Methodology, (upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-05022009-175019/.../03chapter3.pdf,

Accessed on November 19, 2013 at 12:37 pm)

Risdianto, Faizal. 2011. Introduction to Literature. Yogyakarta: Trust Media Publishing.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents background of the study, problem of the study,

objective of the study, scope and limitation of the study, significance of the study,

and definition of the key terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

Trilling (n. d. , in Booth, Hunter, and May, 2006: 2) has stated, ‘Literature

is the human activity that takes the fullest and the most precise account of

variousness, possibility, complexity, and difficulty’. It can be argued that

literature has some characteristics that reflect to the human life. It describes about

the human thought, feeling, behavior, and attitude that happen in our daily

activities. It is very interesting, it not only shares lots of information such as

culture and tradition but it also gives us entertainment. One of the most recent

form of literature is novel.

According to Macmillan (1987:491), ‘Novel is a long work of narrative

prose fiction’. Furthermore, ‘A novel can create the fullness, complexity, and

ongoing flow of life itself’ (Macmillan, 1984:579). Thus, it is believed that novel

is a kind of writing which presents a variety of human daily activities. The author

often uses beautiful language in the aim to make the story interesting and to attract

the readers’ attention through imagination and abstraction.

The most common abstraction used by the author is figurative language.

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expressions that are not literally true but express some truth beyond the literal

level’. Figurative language is also a language that employs figures of speech. It is

expressions that suggest more than their literal meaning, whether it is presented

implied or direct comparisons that give readers the experience of abstraction or of

an emotion (Schmidt, Bogarad, and Crockett, 2006:1399). It means that figurative

language shows the deeper meaning other than what it says in which enables

readers to bring out the emotion and understand the meaning of something vividly.

Moreover, the use of figurative language allows the author to provide the

effectiveness of saying certain meaning rather than the real statement in creating a

story. It is widely believed that the most successful stories are characterized by

compression that can be done by using figurative language. Thomas and Johnson

(2006: 274) has stated, ‘The writer’s aim is to say as much as possible as briefly

as possible. It means only that nothing is wasted and that the author chooses each

words and detail carefully for maximum effectiveness’. It shows that the author

chooses each word selectively but meaningfully through figurative language.

There are many kinds of figurative language that can be used to illustrate things in

different ways other than its real meaning such as hyperbole, personification,

metaphor, and understatement that can be found in novel.

In addition, to gain the author’s ideas, feeling, thought, and experience, the

readers must be able to interpret the meaning of the figurative language. However,

it sometimes difficult, not only needs imagination and deep understanding, but

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comprehend the theory of figurative language in order to graph the meaning of the

story and to avoid misinterpretation.

Some previous studies dealing with figurative language has been done in

poem or song lyric by some researchers. One of them is conducted by Shinta

Ambarsari (2013) a student of Muhammadiyah University Malang who conducted

an investigation in the song “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson, focusing on

analyzing the figurative language and the message of its song lyric. She found out

hyperbole, repetition, personification, and antithesis. Furthermore, she also

revealed the message of the song which was talking about how to solve the

problem without war. It could be overcome by promoting diplomatic or peace way

in order to avoid suffering, fear, and trauma for all people over the world. It is

maintained that figurative language can be found in any kind of literary work such

as song. Besides, it enables the author to express certain message or idea

effectively and enjoyable.

Based on the previous research, figurative language is very interesting and

essential to study. Additionally, it also can be found in novel frequently than in a

song lyric. Similarly, having a good capability in interpreting the meaning of

figurative language is even more crucial with an eye to comprehend the author’s

purpose that delivered through story. Furthermore, discussing figurative language

in novel will be more exciting because it has not been researched yet by other

researchers. Eventually, this study is distinct from the previous research above in

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each figurative language found in novel but does not explain the message of the

author in the story.

Concerning on the importance of figurative language in novel and the

difficulties of interpreting its meaning, the researcher is interested in analyzing the

figurative language in “Two Little Girls in Blue” novel. The researcher selects this

novel because it tells an exciting story of kidnapping the three years old twin girls

who apparently had a special language and communication known only to them,

which helps to keep one alive and reveal the criminals. Besides, this novel

consists of many different kind of figurative languages which are appear mostly in

the dialogue performed by the supporting characters. This novel is also very

popular and written by well-known author, Mary Higgins Clark.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Based on the above explanation the writer formulates the problem as

follows:

1. What kinds of figurative languages are used by the minor characters in Mary

Higgins Clark’s novel “Two Little Girls in Blue”?

2. What are the meaning of those figurative languages?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

Related to the statement above, the writer formulates the purpose of this

study as follows:

1. To discover the kinds of figurative language used by the minor characters in

Mary Higgins Clark’s novel “Two Little Girls in Blue”.

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1.4 Significance of the Study

Researcher hopes that the finding of this research gives a great

contribution for readers particularly who are concern in figurative language.

In the first place, the result of this study is valuable for English

Department students as a reference in getting sources related to figurative

language to improve their knowledge about the material of figurative language.

Moreover, it can be used as a guidance to practice interpreting figurative language

in certain text.

Second, English lecturers, the finding of this research can be used as the

material in teaching figurative language. The teacher may shows to the students

that learning figurative language can be done in fun way through reading novel in

which it will attract the students’ attention.

Third, the next researchers, the finding of this research is useful for

students who are interested in investigating figurative language in the future. They

can consult the procedure on analyzing figurative language to this research’s

result when they want to conduct similar research.

Finally, this research’s finding enrich the theory of figurative language

itself which is more understandable by students since they sometimes find

difficulties to apprehend the theory from the original text or source.

1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study

In order to avoid the broadening discussion, the scope of this study was

focused on the use of the figurative language and the meaning of words based on

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Blue”. In this study, the analysis was limited on the figurative language used only

by minor characters. They were Margaret (the twin's mother), and Angie Ames

(the twin’s kidnapper). It was because they had a significant role in the world of

kidnapping the twins and whose characters were extremely different.

1.5 Definition of the Key Terms

To avoid misinterpretation about the terms, the writer defines the

important terms which are related to this research as follows:

1. Figurative language is a language that consists of figure of speech in

which it is cannot be understand literally (Thomas and Johnson, 2006:

715). It is the author’s language used to describe persons, things, and

ideas using comparisons or abstraction that is being studied.

2. Characters are the people or players in the story and their conflicts

(Schmidt, Bogarad, and Crockett, 2006: 1382). Minor character is one or

more secondly whose function is partly to illuminate the major characters

(DiYanni, 2002: 54-55). Minor characters are actors and actresses in the

novel of “Two Little Girls in Blue” who play a great role in supporting

the main characters in the story.

3. Two Little Girls in Blue is the title of novel written by Mary Higgins

Clark which is being investigated.

4. Mary Higgins Clarkis an American suspense author who wrote the novel

of “Two Little Girls in Blue”.

5. Novel is a kind of long work of narrative prose fiction (Macmillan, 1987:

AN ANALYSIS ON FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE USED BY THE MINOR CHARACTERS IN MARY HIGGINS CLARKÂ’S NOVEL Â“TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUEÂ”