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A STUDY ON UNITY MCPHEE’S AMBITION
IN JOHN ESCOTT NOVEL “POSTCARD RIDDLE”
T H E S I S
This thesis is submitted to meet on of requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education
By:
LARASATI IKA KUMALA
09360201
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
OCTOBER 2013
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T H E S I S
This thesis is submitted to meet on of requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education
By:
LARASATI IKA KUMALA
09360201
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
OCTOBER 2013
iii
T H E S I S
By:
LARASATI IKA KUMALA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
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This thesis written by Larasati Ika Kumala was approved on October 26th, 2013
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This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of Faculty of Teacher
Training and Education of University Muhammadiyah of Malang
and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve
Sarjana Degree in English Education on
On October 28th, 2013
Approved by
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
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MOTTO AND DEDICATION
MOTTO
There is no more than gorgeous result
without a great effort
“
Because I am a woman, it requires me to think,
Then to talk
”
(Shakespeare)
DEDICATION
I dedicate this thesis to:
My beloved parents,
For their endless love, pray and supports
My lovely brother and sister,
Thanks for the love, happiness, peaceful and laugh
My lecturers,
Thanks for teaching and for inspiring me to have a wonderful personality
My sweet heart,
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ACKNOWLEDMENT
Thank to the Lord of the universe, Allah SWT, whose love, patience,
forgiveness and grace, enable the writer to live and to chase her dream. There is
nothing that the writer can do without this mercy.
The writer also would like to thank to many other persons, without their
support she would not be able to accomplish her thesis. The writer would like to
express her deepest gratitude, firstly to Dra. Erly Wahyuni, M.Si as the first
advisor for the never ending encouragement, understanding, guidance and a plenty
of corrections and revisions in completing this study.
Secondly, her sincere thanks to Drs. Taufik Burhan, M.Pd as the second
advisor for the suggestions, patience and understanding in assisting her thesis
writing. Their supports and contributions were really valuable and precious to
motivate the researcher in doing all of this.
Finally, she would like to express grateful thanks to her beloved family
and her close friends, thanks for pray, loves, supports, understandings, cares, and
affections.
Malang, October 2013
viii 1.1 Background of the study ………. 1
1.2 Statement of the problem ……… 3
1.3 Purpose of the study ……… 3
1.4 Significance of the study ………. 4
1.5 Scope and limitation of the study ……… 4
1.6 Definition of key terms ……… 4
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Literature ………...……... 6
2.2 Novel ……… 7
2.3 Kinds of novel ….………...…….. 8
2.4 The elements of novel .………... 11
2.4.1 Character and Characterization ...……….. …….. 11
2.4.2Plot………....………... 13
2.4.3 Conflict ………. 13
2.4.4 Setting ……….. 13
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2.4.6 Point of View ………... 16
2.5 Ambition ….………... 16
2.5.1 The Kinds of Ambition ……… 17
2.5.2 The Reasons why people Have Ambition ……… 19
CHAPTER III: RESEACH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design ……… 20
3.2 Approach ………... 20
3.3 Research Instrument ……….. 21
3.4 Object of Study ………. 22 3.5 Data Collection ………. 22
3.6 Data Analysis ……… 22
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Research Finding ………..……….. 23
4.1.1 Unity McPhee’s Ambitions ………... 23
4.1.2 The Reason of Unity McPhee’s Ambition …..………... 24
4.1.1.2 Feeling Humiliation ……….………. 24
4.1.2.2 Having Passion ……….. 25
4.1.3 The Ways Unity McPhee’s Gain Her Ambitions ………... 25
4.1.3.1 Workaholic …...………..………... 25
4.1.3.2 Being Competitive …...……….. 26
4.1.3.3 Being Curious …...………. 26
4.1.3.4 Being Enthusiastic …...……….. 28
4.1.3.5 Spying On …………...………...……… 31
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4.1.4.1 Anger……….32
4.1.4.2 Frustration……….32
4.2 Discussion ………. 33
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusion ……… 35
5.2 Suggestion ………. 36
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BILBILIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M.H. 1971. A Glossary of Literature Terms. Fourth Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Ary, Donald. 2002. Instruction to Research in Education Sixth Edition. Standford: Wadsworth Thomson Learning Inc.
Culler, Jonathan. 1997. An Analysis of Carl Denham’s Ambition in Christopher
Golden’s Novel “King Kong”. Unpublished Thesis. University of
Muhammadiyah Malang.
Escott, John. 1991. Postcard Riddle. London: Blackie and Son Ltd.
Kennedy, X.Y. 1983. Literature: An Instruction to Fiction Poetry and Drama. Canada: Little Brown and Company.
Koesnosoebroto, S.B. 1988. The Anatomy of Prose and Fiction. Jakarta: Proyek Pengembangan Lembaga Pendidikan Tenaga Kependidikan.
Macmillan. 1984. English and Western Literature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, a division of Macmillan, Inc.
Meyer, Michael. 1990. Introduction to Literature. New York: Bedford Books of
St. Martin’s Press.
Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary. Fourth Edition. 2008. Oxfort University Press.
Toda, Dami N. 2005. Apakah Sastra?. Mangelang: Indonesia Tera.
Widarso, Wishnusubroto. 1992. Ambisi Kawan atau Lawan. Yogakarta: Penerbit Kanisius.
(Online), (www.blurit.com/q6441714.html, accessed on March 5th, 2003)
(Online), (www.bukisa.com/articles/151414_literature-types-and-kinds, accessed on February 19th, 2013)
(Online), (www.esljournal.org/1934795197.html, accessed on February 14th, 2013)
(Online), (www.library.thinkquest.org/23846/library/terms, accessed on March 10th, 2013)
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Hadinata, Purwanto. 2008. Kinds of Novel. (Online), (http://purwanto-sastra-uisu.blogspot.com/2008/05/kinds-of-novel.html, accessed on February 14th, 2013)
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Chapter I of this proposal presents such topic as: background of the study,
statements of problem, purposes of study, significance of the study, scope and
limitation, and definition of key terms. Each section is presented as follows.
1.1Background of the Study
Most people agree that arts make this world more beautiful. Art is human
creative skill and imagination to produce awesome works such as drawing,
painting, music, literature, and dance. All of those works have each value to
hypnotize people in this world.
Traditionally, literature is defined as the best writing produced in a given
language or society and that which is considered as a literary canon for all times.
This normally includes classical writer belong to the past, and often excludes
contemporary writing. However, in the post-modern, deconstruction age, the
definition of literature took a new shape to include texts such as advertising copy,
graffiti and public notice which use literary devices like parallelism, rhyme,
rhythm and metaphor (Maley, 2001).
According to Toda (2005), literary works not only to read and enjoy, but
also to analyze and study. The purpose of analyzing and studying the literary
works are to find out new invention and to get value of a creative works finding,
in addition to observe the latest framework of literary aesthetics. The study of
literature however is also practical, because it engages people the kind of
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technology (Meyer, 1990). The interpretation of literary works requires people to
deal with uncertainties, value judgments, and emotion because there are
unavoidable aspects of life.
There are many kinds of literature, such as poem, poetry, short story, novel
and drama. Koesnosoebroto (1988) has stated that full length of novel may consist
over 100.000 words, contains a number of characters, some of them are fully
developed, have more incidents, scenes or episodes, have a number of settings and
may take place in a long span of time. It may have more than one theme may have
both minor and mayor crises (conflict), and climaxes.
By reading novel, people get worthwhile lessons. Novel tells about a
description and mirror of human life that may include references to real place,
people, and event. It gives not only joy and great pleasure but also messages and
lesson that people can apply in life many through conflicts face by the character
so people know the way to handle difficult situation and other human’s thoughts
(Damayanti, 2007).
Generally, novelists write their imagination such as love, anger, poverty,
murder, curiosity, and many others based on what they watched and feel in their
environment. A novelist always shows intrinsic and extrinsic to the reader by the
story. Novel also has some types such as epistolary, historical, mystery, western,
scientific fiction, picaresque, complex, and nonfiction.
Postcard Riddle is an exciting new series of John Escott’s mystery stories,
which tells us about competition of young reporter. This novel is selected as the
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woman that possessed by her ambition. She does anyway to achieve her purpose
without any doubt in her mind.
Ambition is a human’s willingness to gains certain purpose or dream.
Having ambition in live is an important thing, because person who has ambition
will be motivated to work hard in order to reach it. An ambitious attitude can lead
anyone to triumph and satisfaction, regardless of what is put in front of them. To
have the will, the dream and the courage to be on top of the world will be getting
us a lot of further in life than any skill we can possibly possess. Having talent
means nothing if we have no ambition behind it to work our ass off at any given
point of the day.
Ambition is the most important factor to achieve success. Someone has to
set a goal first before going ahead and achieves it. Imagine that life as a race and
the winning is equivalent to achieving success. If at the starting point someone
does not have the mindset to win the race, it is obvious that she will not give her
best and definitely she would not win.
Based on the statement above the writer tries to analyze Unity McPhee’s
ambition in John Escott Novel “Postcard Riddle”, because this novel tells how
Unity McPhee tries to reach her ambition and about a horrible event happen by
her action.
1.2 Statements of the Problem
Related to background of the study, the problems investigations of this study
are:
1. What is Unity McPhee’s ambition?
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3. How does Unity McPhee try to gain her ambition?
4. What is the effect of Unity McPhee’s ambition toward her object?
1.3 Purposes of the Study
Based on the statements problem above, the purposes of the study are:
1. To know what is Unity McPhee’s ambition.
2. To know what are the reasons of Unity McPhee’s ambition.
3. To know how Unity McPhee gain her ambition.
4. To know the effect of Unity McPhee’s ambition toward her object.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significance of the study is proposed to the English department
students. Firstly is motivating them to learn literature more seriously especially
novel. Showing to the students that studying literature, especially novel, will give
some values within human’s life that is complex with many conflicts to face.
Secondly, the writer hopes that students can take a lesson that having ambition is
not bad. It may improve their spirit of life and guide them to work hard and
always struggle, but if they reach their ambition by the wrong way, they will
destroy their wishes only. Thirdly, this study will give a helpful guidance to know
what their ambition, and how the way the reach their ambition. Finally, the result
of this study is expected to be used as model in doing future literary research,
especially in analyzing a novel.
1.5 Scope and Limitation
Novel has many elements such as character, theme, conflict, plot, and
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aspects to be investigated, and the writer limits the scope of this thesis is on Unity
McPhee’s ambition in John Escott novel “Postcard Riddle”.
1.6Definition of Key Term
To avoid misunderstanding among the readers, the terms used in this study
are defined as follows:
1. Novel is a book-length story in purpose, whose author tries to create the sense that, while we read, we experience actual life.
2. Ambition is an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as wealth or fame, and the willingness to strive for it.
