THE DESCRIPTION OF THEME IN “THE KILL ORDER” NOVEL BY JAMES DASHNER
A PAPER
WRITTEN
BY
ANGLIKA NATASYA SARAS DEWI REG. NO: 122202048
DIPLOMA III ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM FACULTY OF CULTURE STUDY
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN
Approved by, Supervisor,
NIP. 19580517 198503 1 003 Drs. Siamir Marulafau, M.Hum
Submitted to Faculty of Culture Study, University of Sumatera Utara
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for Diploma-III in English Study Program
Approved by
Head of English Diploma Study Program,
NIP 19521126198112 1 001 Dr. Matius C.A. Sembiring, M.A.
Accepted by the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the D-III Examination of the Diploma-III of English Study Program, Faculty of Culture Study, University of Sumatera Utara.
The examination is held on
Faculty of Culture Study, University of Sumatera Utara
Dean,
NIP. 19511013 197603 1 001 Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A
Board of Examiners Signature
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AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
I am, ANGLIKA NATASYA SARAS DEWI, declare that I am the sole author of this paper. Except where the reference is made in the text of this paper, this paper contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a paper by which I have qualified for or awarded another degree.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of this paper. This paper has not been submitted for the award of another degree in any tertiary education.
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COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
Name : ANGLIKA NATASYA SARAS DEWI
Title of Paper : THE DESCRIPTION OF THEME IN “THE KILL ORDER” NOVEL BY JAMES DASHNER
Qualification : D-III/ Ahli Madya Study Program: English
1. I am willing that my paper should be available for reproduction at the discretion of the Libertarian of the Diploma III English Study Program Faculty of Culture Study University of Sumatera Utara on the understanding that users are made aware of their obligation under law of the Republic of Indonesia.
2. I am not willing that my papers be made available for reproduction.
Signed : . . . Date : July 2015
iii ABSTRACT
The title of this paper is The Description of Theme in “The Kill Order” Novel by James Dashner is about the story of Mark’s struggle to survive begins 13 years before Thomas wakes up in a big box. Sun Flares have nearly destroyed the Earth. The tale begins with Mark waking and shivering in the early dawn of his encampment in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. The teenaged Mark, his girlfriend Trina, their friends Toad, Misty, and Darnell, together with army veterans Alec and Lana, have formed something of a makeshift family and live together to destroy a virus. The author presents the results of thinking about the theme implied in the novel The Kill Order. Theme in the novel The Kill Order can be classified into several different categories depending on the terms of which it is done. Categorization of themes that will be presented below is based on the classification of the level of primacy. They are Major Theme and Minor Theme. The discussion in this paper based on the work of literature as a reference book that can support the ideas or opinions of writer about this topic. After in the description, there is use theme in The Kill Order novel. In working on this paper, the writer used research method such as library research.
iv ABSTRAK
Judul kertas karya ini adalah The Description of Theme in “The Kill Order” Novel by James Dashner ini membahas perjuangan Mark untuk bertahan hidup di mulai 13 tahun sebelum Thomas bangun di sebuah kotak besar. Setelah Sun Flares hampir menghancurkan bumi. Kisah ini di mulai dengan Mark bangun dan menggigil di awal fajar di sebuah perkemahan di Pegunungan Appalachian Barat Carolina Utara. Seorang remaja Mark, pacarnya Trina, teman – teman mereka Toad, Misty, dan Darnell, bersama – sama dengan tentara veteran Alec dan Lana membentuk suatu keluarga dan hidup bersama untuk memusnahkan suatu virus. Penulis menyampaikan hasil pemikiran tentang tema yang tersirat di dalam novel The Kill Order. Tema di dalam novel ini dapat digolongkan ke dalam beberapa kategori yang akan dikemukakan berdasarkan penggolongan dilihat dari tingkat keutamaannya. Mereka adalah Major Theme dan Minor Theme. Pembahasan dalam kertas karya ini berpedoman pada beberapa buku sastra sebagai referensi yang dapat mendukung ide atau pendapat penulis tentang topik ini. Setelah di deskripsikan, terdapat penggunaan tema di dalam novel The Kill Order. Dalam mengerjakan tulisan ini penulis menggunakan metode penelitian seperti penelitian perpustakaan.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Bismillaahirrahmaanirrahim.
First of all, I would like to thank and praise to the Almighty God Allah SWT who has given me health and capability to finish this paper as my last assignment to finish my study at Diploma III English Study Program University of Sumatera Utara. And I present shalawat to Prophet Muhammad SAW as my good example in my life and I hope his blessing in the beyond.
I would to express a deep gratitude, love, appreciation, and thanks to :
• My beloved parents Goldy Zefanya Uthan and Sukma Pratiwi for their love and patience, supporting me morally, spiritually, and financially in completing this paper. Thanks for my family, my grandparents Tukul Sumarto and Sariati for their love and always beside me since I was child. My beloved aunty Tri Susartati for taking care of me and always accompany me.
• Dr. Matius C.A. Sembiring, M.A. as the Head of Diploma III English Study Program, who gives me a lot of knowledge.
• Drs. Siamir Marulafau M.Hum. as my supervisor. Thank you for valuable time in giving the correction and constructive critics in completing this paper. • Dr. Syahron Lubis M.A. as the Dean of Faculty Culture Studies University
of Sumatera Utara.
• My Reader Dr. Ridwan Hanafiah, M.A. for the knowledge and advice. • All lectures in Diploma III English Study Program for giving me advices and
knowledge.
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• My best friends, Nahrisyah, Dessy Siregar S.S., Nurhayani Syafitri A.Md.Kep., Syafriani, Lailan, Wardah, and Ifa for their loyalty, love, and support. Thank you for being my best friends who always care. And also thank you to my close friends, Anggi Rosalina Simatupang, Shella Burviana, Sarah Amalia, Siti Mulianita, Eva Purnama Sari, and Fitri Rosmawati. Thanks for supporting me. Big thanks to Nanda Yustika Sari and Jefry Andreas for helping me.
• My thank to all my friends in Diploma III English Study Program SOLIDAS 2012 class A and B who I can not mention one by one. And thank you to all my friends who know me well for being part of my life.
Finally, I do realize this paper still far from being perfect. Therefore, I welcome any constructive, critics, and suggestions toward this paper.
Medan, July 2015 The Writer,
RegNo : 122202048
Anglika Natasya Saras Dewi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION... i
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION... ii
ABSTRACT... iii
ABSTRAK... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS... vii
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Background of Study... 1
1.2 The Scope of Study... 3
1.3 The Problem of Study... 3
1.4 The Objective of Study... 3
1.5The Significance of Study... 4
1.6The Method of Study... 4
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE... 5
3. THE DESCRIPTION 3.1 Friendship………... 14
3.2 Love... 17
3.3Violence... 19
3.4Suffering... 20
3.5The Message of the Novel... 22
4. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 4.1Conclusion... 24
4.2Suggestion... 26
REFERENCES... 27
APPENDICES A. Biography of James Dashner... 29
iii ABSTRACT
The title of this paper is The Description of Theme in “The Kill Order” Novel by James Dashner is about the story of Mark’s struggle to survive begins 13 years before Thomas wakes up in a big box. Sun Flares have nearly destroyed the Earth. The tale begins with Mark waking and shivering in the early dawn of his encampment in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. The teenaged Mark, his girlfriend Trina, their friends Toad, Misty, and Darnell, together with army veterans Alec and Lana, have formed something of a makeshift family and live together to destroy a virus. The author presents the results of thinking about the theme implied in the novel The Kill Order. Theme in the novel The Kill Order can be classified into several different categories depending on the terms of which it is done. Categorization of themes that will be presented below is based on the classification of the level of primacy. They are Major Theme and Minor Theme. The discussion in this paper based on the work of literature as a reference book that can support the ideas or opinions of writer about this topic. After in the description, there is use theme in The Kill Order novel. In working on this paper, the writer used research method such as library research.
iv ABSTRAK
Judul kertas karya ini adalah The Description of Theme in “The Kill Order” Novel by James Dashner ini membahas perjuangan Mark untuk bertahan hidup di mulai 13 tahun sebelum Thomas bangun di sebuah kotak besar. Setelah Sun Flares hampir menghancurkan bumi. Kisah ini di mulai dengan Mark bangun dan menggigil di awal fajar di sebuah perkemahan di Pegunungan Appalachian Barat Carolina Utara. Seorang remaja Mark, pacarnya Trina, teman – teman mereka Toad, Misty, dan Darnell, bersama – sama dengan tentara veteran Alec dan Lana membentuk suatu keluarga dan hidup bersama untuk memusnahkan suatu virus. Penulis menyampaikan hasil pemikiran tentang tema yang tersirat di dalam novel The Kill Order. Tema di dalam novel ini dapat digolongkan ke dalam beberapa kategori yang akan dikemukakan berdasarkan penggolongan dilihat dari tingkat keutamaannya. Mereka adalah Major Theme dan Minor Theme. Pembahasan dalam kertas karya ini berpedoman pada beberapa buku sastra sebagai referensi yang dapat mendukung ide atau pendapat penulis tentang topik ini. Setelah di deskripsikan, terdapat penggunaan tema di dalam novel The Kill Order. Dalam mengerjakan tulisan ini penulis menggunakan metode penelitian seperti penelitian perpustakaan.
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of Study
Literature is as old as human language, and as new as tomorrow’s sunrise. And literature is everywhere, not only in books, but in videos, television, radio, CDs, computer, newspaper, in all the media of communication where a story is told or an image created.
Roberts and Jacobs (1993:1) say, “Literature refers to compositions that tell stories, dramatize situations, express emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas.” Before the invention of writing, literary works were necessarily spoken or sung, and were retained only as literature still exists, with many poems and stories designed exclusively for spoken delivery. Even in our modern age of writing and printing, much literature is still heard aloud rather than read silently.
Literature may be classified into four categories or genres: 1. Prose fiction, 2. Poetry, 3. Drama, 4. Nonfiction prose. Usually the first three are classed as imaginative literature. The genres of imaginative literature have much in common, but they also have distinguishing characteristics. Prose fiction, or narrative fiction, includes myths, parables, romances, novels, and short stories.
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narrative in prose of at least, say, 20,000 words.” W.E Williams defines it as “A long narrative in prose detailing the actions of fictitious people.”
Sumardjo (1998:29) says that novel is a story with the prose form in long shape, this long shape means the story including the complex plot, many character and various setting. The elements of a novel are the same elements as that of the short story like plot, theme, setting, point of view, character, except that there may be more than one of each of these elements. That is, within the main plot of a novel there may be several subplots, there may be more than one theme, and point of view can certainly change as well.
Stanton (1965:20) and Kenny (1966:88) say that theme is the meaning contained by a story. But there are many meanings conceived and offered by the story (the novel), then the problem is a special meaning which can be expressed as the theme. Theme is the main idea that the writer expresses. Theme can also be defined as the underlying meaning of the story.
Basically, there are two themes in a novels, major theme or main theme and minor theme or sub-theme. Major theme is a main idea of the novels from start to the end of the story, whereas minor theme is an inserted theme along the story.
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Mountains of western North Carolina. He does not yet know that this is a day that will change everything. He simply muses on the fact that being chilled is a sensation he hasn’t felt in a very long time. His gruff ex-soldier friend Alec snores on the other cot in their shared hut. Mark was once intimidated by Alec, but has fought to survive alongside the older man for more than a year. In that time, they’ve formed a comfortable bond, which Mark demonstrates by tossing a shoe at him. Alec treats Mark with the usual tolerant good humor, which begins Mark’s day in a pleasant manner. He’s determined to add to his great mood by finding Trina, the love of his life. This is the background as well as the reason why this paper focused on the describing the major and minor theme in that novels.
1.2 The Scope of Study
There are so many aspects in this novel that can be described, but the writer becomes more interested in describing the theme in the novel. So, the description of this paper is limited to major theme and minor theme in the novel The Kill Order by James Dashner.
1.3The Problem of Study
The problem of this study can be defined as below: 1) What is the major theme of the novel?
2) What are the minor themes of the novel? 3) What are the messages sent?
1.4The Objective of Study
4 1) To describe the major theme of the novel. 2) To describe the minor themes of the novel.
3) To find the messages sent by author to readers. 1.5The Significance of Study
The significance of study is divide into two sections, they are:
1) Theoretical Significance, the study can be used to enrich the literary study, especially in theme.
2) Practical Significance, the reader will understand about theme in a novel and the reader will know the story in the The Kill Order novel.
1.6The Method of Study
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2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Wellek and Warren (1970:91) say that literature reflects life as social reality, so literature usually is very closely connected with certain social customs; therefore in a traditional society, for example, it is quite difficult to distinguish between poetry and religious cermonies, magic, or games. Umar Kayam (1981-82:52) say, “Literature as one of the branches of art is a manifestation and reflection of life and is a record of various aspects of culture. Art is never seperate from society and is an integral part of culture as well as an expression of cultural creativity itself.” Based on the statements, it means that literature is a kind of art that usually tells, dramatized, analyzed, expresses the emotions, and advocates the ideas where the imagination of the author ordering the experience of life into written or oral composition by offers the pleasure.
William (1934) says that writings having excellence of form of expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest. Literature is writings in which expression and form in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are charactereristic or essential features as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. Literature in the sense drama, poems, and novel has something different. Literature is human creation in the form of oral and written language that can make you feel good.
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beauty of the word around us. It is a kind of art which need a creative writing. It is a writing that can describe the real feeling which related to human interest, characterized, full of imaginations, and artistic. Literature in the sense drama, poems, and novel has something different.
Esten (1978:9) says that literature is literary or disclosure of the facts artistic and imaginative as a manifestation of human life. (and society) through language as a medium and has a positive effect on human life (humanity). There have been various attempts to define literature. You can define it, for example, as “imaginative” writing in the sence of fiction, writing which is not really true. but even the briefest reflection on what people commonly include under the heading of literature suggests that this will do. Literature as imaginative writing is reflected from people thought, that is not really true.
Shaw (1977:162) says that literature is the writing in which expression and form, in connection with ideas and concern of universal and apparently permanent interest are essential features. Literature is frequently, but unwisely applied to any kind of printed material such as circulars, leaflets, and handbills. The term is correctly reserved for prose and verse of acknowledge excellence.
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Abrams, (1981:119) says that novel is the name of a literary kind and there is a story to tell about how over the centuries, its substance has widened and its conventions changed. In an excited moment, we can call the novel ‘independent, elastic prodigious, and its story is as untidy as some of its masterpieces. If abrams had ever read any novels, he would have needed a far wider canvas than he allowed to tragedy in that surviving fragment of analysis known as the poetics. Novella literally means ‘a small new item’ and then interpreted as ‘a short story in the form of prose’.
Rees (1973:106) says, “Novel is a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length in which characters and actions representative of real life are portrayed in a plot of more or less complexity.” A plot is a series of carefully devised and interrelated actions that progresses through a struggle of opposing forces (conflict) to a climax.
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no book at all, but there is also a much more important reason: a novel is a world specially made in words by an author.
Novel, an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience, usually through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. Within its broad framework, the genre of the novel has encompassed an extensive range of types and styles: picaresque, epistolary, gothic, romantic, realist, historical-to name only some of the more important ones.
The novel is genre of fiction, and fiction may be defined as the art or craft of contriving, through the written word, representations of human life that instruct or divert or both. The various forms that fiction may take are best seen less as a number of separate categories than as a continuum or, more accurately, a cline, with some such brief form as the anecdote at one end of the scale and the longest conceivable novel at the other. When any piece of fiction is long enough to constitute a whole book, as opposed to a more part of a book. Then it may be said to have achieved novelhood. But this state admits of its own quantitative categories, so that a relatively brief novel may be termed a novella (or, if the insubstantially of the content matches its brevity, a novelette), and a very long novel may overflow the banks of a single volume and become a roman-fleuve, or river novel. Length is very much obe of the dimensions of the genre.
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languages, a diminutive denotes historically the parent form. The novella was a kind of enlarged anecdote like those to be found in the 14th-century Italian classic Boccaccio’s Decameron, each of which exemplifies the etymology well enough. The stories are little new things, novelties, freshly minted diversions, toys; they are not reworkings of known fables or myths, and they are lacking in weight and moral earnestness. It is to be noted that, despite the high example of novelists of the most profound seriousness, such as Tolstoy, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf, the term novel still, in some quarters, carries overtones of lightness and frivolity. And it is possible to descry a tendency to triviality in the foem itself. The ode or symphony seems to possess an inner mechanism that protect it from aesthetic or moral corruption, but the novel can descend to shameful commercial depths of sentimentality or pornography. It is the purpose of this section to consider the novel not solely in terms of great art but also as an all-purpose medium catering for all the strata of literacy.
The novel attempts to assume those burdens of life that have no place in the epic poem and to see man as unheroic, unredeemed, imperfect, even absurd. This is why there is room among its practitioners for writers of hardboiled detective thrillers such as the contemporary American Mickey Spillane or of sentimental melodramas such as the prolific 19th-century English novelist Mrs, Henry Wood, but not for one of the unremitting elevation of outlook of a John Milton.
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were cognitive instrument and those who distruct stories as evidence should consider how often in conversation we use them to make points or answer questions. For one thing, a novel is too untidy an object, often, to be seen as regulated in its entirety and the patterns offered can be improvisation the figure in the carpet is not itself the carpet, or anything like it. a novel is a fund of knowledge as well as a literary form and any pure and exclusive formalism whether structuralize or other, flies in the face of much of the ordinary experience of reading fiction. Novel can freely express something, to present something more detailed, and more involving many complex problems. This includes various the story elements that build the novel.
The novel tells about someone life. Novels do not however, present a documentary picture of life. Along side the fact that novels looj at people in society, the other major characteristic of the genre is that novels tell a story. In fact, novels tend to tell the some few stories time and time.
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A lot of novels have young people as the main character, for it is often the young who feel them to be most at odds with conventional standards. You will have made considerable progress in understanding the particular novel you are reading if you can see how it sets certain individuals against society or their family.
Tarigan (1993:125) says that theme is a specific outlook on life or certain feelings about lives or definite system of points which make of made main idea of literature.
Hartako and Rahmanto (1986:142) say that the theme is the ideas of common bases that sustains a work of literature and are contained in the text semantic structure and regarding commonality or differences.
Theme is the main idea that the writer expresses. Theme can also be defined as the underlying meaning of the story. Theme is another prime element of literature, which contains the central idea of all literary forms such as a novel, drama and short story. It reflects innocence, experience, live, death, reality, fate, madness, sanity, love, society, individual, etc.
Theme is one of the fundamental components of fiction. Theme means what the novel can be summed up as saying. Another way of putting it would be to talk of the ‘ideas’ of the book. The massage may be about life, society or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost implied rather than stated explicitly.
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Theme is always associated with a variety of life experiences, such as issues of love, longing, fear, death, religious, and so on. In certain cases, often the theme can be synonymous with the story’s main idea or purpose. It is a theme which has a broad idea, message, or lesson conveyed by work. The message is usually about life, society, or human nature.
In the other words, theme is the main idea or the main point in a story. A theme must represent the whole part of the story, because theme is a basic development of a whole story. Actually it is not easy to find out the theme in a novel. The reader has to read the novel and understand what the story tells about.
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are based in an idea or position. This, writers of comic works are committed to the idea that human difficulties can be treated with humor. More serious works may force characters to make difficult moral choices, in the thought that in a loving situation the only winner is the one who maintains honor and slef respect, mystery and suspense stories rest on the belief that problems have solutions, even if they may not at first seem apparent. Writers may deal with the triumphs and defeats of life, the admirable and despicable, the humorous and the pathetic, but whatever their goal, they are always expressing ideas about human experience. In fiction, ideas take the form of an underlying theme or central idea, which helps to tie th work together.
Culler (1977:59) says, “Theme is something which becomes the authors thought. It explains about view of life or the author’s image, and how they consider the case.” Theme should be universal; it means that the readers understand well. The relation of the story is obviously in message and theme.
The theme of the novel is more than its subject matter, because an author’s technique can play as strong a rule in developing a theme as the action of the characters do. Sometimes because of the length of novels and the various characters, conflicts, and scenes, found within them, reader can look at different aspects of the work to uncover different interpretations of the meaning of the tale.
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3. THE DESCRIPTION
3.1 Friendship
Major theme is an idea the author returns to time and again; it becomes one of the most important ideas in the story. Throughout the history of the novel, a major theme has been weather people can change their situations in life or whether they are in the grips of forces beyond their control. The major theme in this novel is Friendship.
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between two or more people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been studied in academic fields such as sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles. A World Happiness Database study found that people with close friendships are happier. Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types of friendship. Such characteristics include affection, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism, mutual understanding and compassion, enjoyment of each other’s company, trust, and the ability to be oneself, express one’s feelings, and make mistakes without fear of judgement from the friend.
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early dawn of his encampment in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. He does not yet know that this is a day that will change everything. Alec greeted Mark and Trina with a grunt when they walked through the lopsided doorway in the Central Shack’s log structure. Before they could say hello, Lana came marching briskly up to them. A stout woman with black hair that was always pulled tightly into a bun, she’d been a nurse in the army and was younger than Alec, but older than Mark’s parents-she and Alec had been together when Mark had met them in the tunnels below New York City. Back then, they’d both worked for the defense department. Alec was her boss; they’d been on their way to a meeting of some sort that day. Before everything changed. Darnell, a teenage boy with a pair of underwear pulled over his brown hair like a hat. Mark was convinced the kid had never taken a thing seriously in his entire life. Even when the sun had been trying to boil him alive a year past, he seemed to be ready with a joke. A girl, tall and thin with long hair, just a little younger than Mark. They called her Misty, though she’d never told them whether that was a her real name. The toad-short and squat, he was the shortest nineteen year old Mark had ever seen, but thick as an oak tree-all muscle and sinew and veins. Which for some reason made the others think it was okay to pick on him, because they all knew he could beat the crap out of them if he really wanted to. But the Toad liked being the center of attention. And Darnell liked being goofy and annoying.
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together in masses to kill Mark, and his friends. One day, one of his friends-Darnell-infected by the virus. Mark tried to help Darnell, but Alec said it was dangerous.
Mark tried to give him a reassuring look. “I just want to see my friend.” He passed the cloth tightly against his nose and raised his eye-brows dramatically at Alec. (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 59)
Mark continued to help Darnell although Alec has been prevented him. Alec reminded him that Darnell would kill by virus. But, Mark kept continuing to see Darnell behind the door because he also knew he couldn’t possibly go in there to try to help Darnell. He only could hear Darnell whimpering softly, moaning those same two words every few seconds.
“My head, my head, my head.” (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 59)
Darnell kept mentioning those words that something happened inside his head. Mark tried to call him but Darnell’s body stiffened, his legs shooting straight out and his arms going rigid at his sides.
“My heeeeeeaaaaaad!” Darnell shouted in one long, drawn-out wail of such ferocity that Mark stepped back again. He didn’t know if he could bear to look anymore. (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 61)
Another scream, worse than before, erupted from Darnell’s ravaged throat-it came out sounding like the roar of an enraged animal. After that, Mark heard Darnell slump to the floor with an exhale of breath. Mark felt so sad and angry because he couldn’t help his friend, Darnell. One of his friends died by virus.
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“But I promise we’ll stay together on all this,” he continued. “And we’ll do everything we can not to catch whatever it was that killed Darnell and the others. But if we’re going to do that...” He rubbed her back and looked up at Alec for help. “Then we need to be vigilant,” the man said. “We need to be cautious and smart and ruthless if it comes to that.” (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 63)
3.2 Love
A minor theme is an idea that may appear only periodically. The extent of the minor themes depending ob the extent of additional meaning that can be interpreted from a novel. Interpretation of the meaning it had to be limited to the meanings that stood out, besides it has concrete evidence contained in the work that can be used as the basis to account. That is appointment or interpretation of a particular meaning in a work was not done just nonsense. One of minor themes in this novel is Love.
Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection (“I love my mother”) to pleasure (“I love that meal”). It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment. It can also be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection-“the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”. It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one’s self or animals.
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Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common thems in the creative arts.
The Kill Order tells about love between Mark and Trina. Mark tried to find his love, Trina. Trina, Lana, and Deedee were losing when Mark and Alec went looking for something outside from their camp.
They kept walking to find Trina and the others. The wind had shifted, blowing back toward the fire, filling their lungs with fresh air and easing that concern-at least temporarily. Mark had grown so used to the light from the flames that he’d failed to notice that dawn had crept up on them-the sky through the branches above him was now purple instead of black, and he could faintly see where he was going. The landscape grew familiar and suddenly they were back at the camp. Their things were still laid out exactly as they’d left them. But there was no sign of Trina or the others.
A little seed of panic sprouted inside Mark’s chest. “Trina!” he yelled. “Trina!” (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 140)
A little seed of panic sprouted inside Mark’s chest. He and Alec quickly combed the surrounding area, calling their friend’s names as they did. But all was quiet. Trina couldn’t be found everywhere.
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After some days, Mark found Trina. But Trina couldn’t remember Mark. For the first time Mark felt he has been lost his love. He couldn’t believe that Trina couldn’t remember him.
“Trina, do you really not remember me?” “You seem . . . familiar. But there’s too much in my head. We just need to get the girl-she’s immune, I know it-we need to get her to people who matter. Before we’re all too insane to try.” (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 286)
He asked Trina whether she could remember him or not. But the answer was very painful and it was not expected. Mark tried to be patient and he always waited for Trina to remember him again.
And suddenly after a few day passed, Trina could remember Mark. Mark was very happy when he knew that Trina’s memory was back. Finally, they could spend their time together again and enjoyed the time with togetherness.
She tilts her face up and kisses him on the cheek. “What would I do without you? I’d die of stress and depression before nature killed me.” Trina said to Mark. (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 299)
3.3 Violence
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Violence is “The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a hogh likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.” This definition associates intentionality with the committing of the act itself, irrespective of the outcome it produces. Generally, although anything that is turbulent or excited in an injurious, damaging or destructive way, or presenting risk accordingly, may be described as violent or occuring violently, even if not signifying violence (by a person and against a person).
Violence in this novel is from a virus. A virus attacks the brain and shuts it down, painlessly. It acts quickly and decisively. The virus was designed to slowly weaken in infection rate as it spreads from host to host. This virus sanctioned by the acting government of the flare-inflicted world. It hadn’t been terrorists or the work of madmen. It had been approved and executed with the intent of controlling the population. Of wiping out entire areas, leaving more resources for those who lived. Virus-laced darts shrieking through the air, thunking into necks and arms and shoulders.
“I need your help preparing my full proposal for the virus release presentation. We need to focus on how a controlled kill is the only way to save lives. Though it will make survival possible for only a select portion of our population, unless we take extreme measures, we face the eventual extinction of the human race.” (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 294)
3.4 Suffering
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individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of affective phenomena. The opposite of suffering is pleasure or happiness.
Suffering is often categorized as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of occurrence usually compound that of intensity. Attitudes toward suffering may vary widely, in the sufferer or other people, according to how much it is regarded as avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved.
Suffering occurs in the lives of sentient beings in numerous manners and often dramatically. As a result, many fields of human activity are concerned with some aspects of suffering. These aspects may include the nature of suffering, its processes, its origin and causes, its meaning and significance, its related personal, social, and cultural behaviors, its remedies, management, and uses.
The Kill Order tells about suffering from Mark and his friends. They’d become a desperate, desperate people, living each day with the weighty feeling that the next one could be their last. They always suffer because a virus and people who they met and tried to kill them. They were tired and hungry day by day.
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Mark was very hungry and thirsty. He needed food and water. All of those pain caused he couldn’t eat and drink properly during he tried to find his friends. He was very suffer and all he needed was rest. His body was very sick and Alec gave him a standard military meal.
“Here ya go, son. Pretty much a standard military meal, but it’s food and it’s full of nutrients. Gonna perk you right up. I flew us to an empty neighborhood between the bunker and downtown Asheville. All the craziest seem to have fled the fire and headed south.” (The Kill Order, 2012 P. 215)
3.5 The Message of the Novel
The definition of a message is a short communication sent from one person to another or the central theme or idea of a communication. Underlying idea or theme in an ad or the central or primary content or information that passes from a communicator or a receiver.
The message that the author tries to convey is the entire meaning and reason behind writing the book. Most of literature from the great American authors do have deep stimulation and they make you think very hard about what it its the author is trying to tell you. They are philosophical arguments that help to better define our world to make the reader question what they know and allow the reader to think for themselves.
There are some messages sent by the author to the readers.
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2) In suffering, there is a way to save those who are left, if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some you’re worth more dead than alive.
3) Violence, people who claim to have the strength and the power to change the lives of others, it is the perpetrator behind the scenes of all evil.
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4. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 4.1 Conclusion
Theme is the central idea of the work of literature in James Dashner’s novel: The Kill Order. The theme is closely connected to character, setting, and plot of the novel because it represents the whole content of the work, without the theme there won’t be a work of literature. The theme of James Dashner’s novel: The Kill Order is friendship as the major theme and there are three minor themes those supported the major theme. They are love, violence, and suffering.
Theme of this novel is a story of friendship between Mark, Alec, Lana, trina, Misty, Toad, and Darnell. This group of people, obviously from all walks of life, are brought together by the natural disaster of the sun flares, and they instantly come to be friends and rely on one another for survival. Their loyalty to one another is tested time and time again, especially during the viral epidemic that follows setting in North Carolina. The friends watch our for one another, share what they have, share laughter, and commiserate together, their fraternity with one another.
Beside a major theme, a novel also had a minor themes those supported the major theme. A minor theme is a theme that supporting the major theme in works of literature.
There are three minor themes found in this novel, they are: 1) Love
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Mark was looking for Trina, but after Trina found, she can not remember Mark anymore. She had no idea who Mark was.
2) Violence
Violence in this novel is a virus. A virus sanctioned by the acting government of the flare-inflicted world. a virus attacks the brain and shuts it down, painlessly. Mark and the others struggled to destroy a virus.
3) Suffering
Suffering in this novel is suffering of Mark and his friends. Everyday Mark and the others become desperate because a virus and some people who always wanted to kill them.
There are some messages that author wants to send to the readers from the novel. They are:
1) Friendship is something that everyone should has if they want to respect and enjoy the life.
2) In suffering, there is a way to save those who are left, if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a price. And to some you’re worth more dead than alive.
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4) Love is about how a man and a woman who have the same feeling can enjoy their togetherness although they are in a bad situation. Because love is a power that can help a relationship become perfect.
4.2 Suggestion
After completing this paper there are some things would like to suggest. First, the author would like to recommend the readers to understand about literature. In fact, it will be better for the readers to understand literature in general before reading a novel since that novel is one of a familiar literary works to anyone. Second, the author would like to advise the reader to understand the theme in this novel because the readers will know how the message delivered in the story of novel and teaches the moral message from that story. Third, the author has some advices for all those who are interested in reading and writing, especially the readers, writers, and students to learn about other aspects of literature not just a theme, such as character, plot, and others. It is recommend for students to describe other aspects of the novel.
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REFERENCES
Abrams, M.H. 1971. A Glossary of Literary Term. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Culler, Yonathan. 1977. Structuralism and Literature. London: Mayfield Education. Coates, Jennifer. 1983. The Semantics of Modal Auxiliaries. London: Croom
Helm.
Dashner, James. 2012. The Kill Order. United States: Delacorte Press.
Gill, Richard. 1985. Mastering English Literature. London: McMillan Education Ltd.
Hartoko, Dick dan Rahmanto, Bernardus. 1986. Pemandu di Dunia Sastra. Yogyakarta: Kanisius.
Kenny, William. 1966. How to Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press. Meleong, Lexy J. 1993. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif. Bandung: Remaja
Rosdakarya.
Rees, R.J. 1973. English Literature: An Introduction for Foreign Readers. Hongkong: The Macmillan Press Limited.
Roberts, Edgar V & Henry E. Jacobs. 1995. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Sembiring, Matius C.A. 2014. Buku Panduan Program D-3 Studi Bahasa Inggris. Medan: Universitas Sumatera Utara.
Sembiring, Matius C.A. 2014. Kompilasi Bahan Kuliah. Medan: Universitas Sumatera Utara.
Shaw, Harry. 1977. Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGrawHill.
Stanton, Robert. 1965. An Introduction to Fiction. New York: Hoh, Rinehart and Winston.
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Surachmad, Winarno. 1982. Pengantar Penelitian Ilmiah. Bandung: Tarsito. Suryabrata. 1984. Metode Penelitian. Jakarta: Angkasa.
Tarigan, Henry Guntur. 1994. Menulis Sebagai Suatu Keterampilan Berbahasa. Bandung: Angkasa.
Peck, John., and Coyle Martin. 1984. Literary Terms and Criticism. Great Britain: MacMillan Education Ltd.
Wellek, Rene and Warren, Austin. 1971. Theory Literary. Hamondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguid Book Ltd.
29 APPENDICES A. Biography of James Dashner
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read. (Reading was mentioned twice on purpose.) Most of all, he’s thankful that he gets to make a living writing stories and considers himself pretty much the luckiest guy on the planet. After several attempts, Dashner eventually created the character of Jimmy Fincher. Dashner would expand his story into an outline and eventually produced four books in a series, collectively known as The Jimmy Fincher Saga. After repeated rejections from publishers, Dashner’s manuscript was well received by Cedar Fort and his writing career began to take from.
After completion of the four books in the Fincher series, Dashner began another planned trilogy: The Maze Runner. Like the previous saga, the series would again focus on a young boy in a perilous situation. Reviews of The Maze Runner were positive with many comparing the series to the wildly popular The Hunger Games series. Dashner has also completed a prequel to the series, The Kill Order. Dashner has stated that this series is heavily influenced by William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
Inspiration
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movies and TV shows he’s watched, have served to inspire many of his stories. For example, The Maze Runner was heavily influenced by Ender’s Game and Lord of the Flies. Whenever James has a tough time writing, he takes a break to watch a movie or read a book, and then the ideas flow so fast he can’t get them all down. He’ll be the first to admit he’s lucky to have the greatest job ever.
B. Summary of the Novel
When the novel begins, the teenaged Mark, his girlfriend Trina, their friends Toad, Misty, and Darnell, together with army veterans Alec and Lana, have formed something of a makeshift family and live together to destroy a virus. They are encamped in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, living in a village of huts and crude shelters. For the first time in a year, things seen settled. One daym Mark and Trina are shocked to discover that a Berg, an airship, comes to the village, and men in hazardous material suits begin shooting the villagers with darts. Mark and Alec gain entry to the Berg, only to discover the darts are full of a dangerous virus, which comes to be known as the flare. It drives people insane, ultimately killing them.
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and rendered insane by the virus. Mark and Alec are separated from Lana, Trina, and Deedee by a fire caused by the insane people. They are captured by people at the Berg’s headquarters. Mark and Alec infiltrate the base to rescue them, and they discover three things. First, the city of Asheville has turned its back on the Berg base; second, the virus is being spread deliberately to wipe out half the world’s population to conserve resources; and third, Asheville has a Flat Trans, a transportation device linked to Alaska, where the PFC, the Post-Flare Coalition international government, is based. Orders have been issued to unleash the virus. The Berg base negotiates with the crazed locals, giving them Trina, Deedee, and Lana as random for time to attack Asheville. Mark and Alec rescue Trina and Deedee. Alec puts Lana, who is near death, out of her misery.
Then, they fly a stolen Berg to Asheville, where Mark sends Deedee through the Flat Trans with a note saying she is immune to the virus, and she is somehow the cure as well. Meanwhile, the Berg base’s operatives storm Asheville with an army of the infected, crazy people. Mark, Alec, and Trina have all come down with the virus. As Trina and Mark embrace, Alec crashes the Berg into the PFC building that houses the Flat Trans.
