Analysis of the Elements of Plot of Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini saya akan membahas sebuah novel berjudul King

Solomon’s Mines yang ditulis oleh Henry Rider Haggard. Novel yang bergenre

petualangan ini menceritakan tentang perjalanan Allan Quartermain, tokoh utama dalam novel, dalam mencari orang hilang dan harta karun Raja Salomo. Seiring berjalannya cerita, terjadi banyak hambatan dan hal-hal yang tidak terduga yang harus dilewati oleh Allan Quartermain dalam petualangannya.

Setelah membaca buku ini saya menemukan bahwa elemen yang penting dalam novel ini adalah alur ceritanya yang terdiri dari unsur suspense, surprise dan artistic unity. Saya memutuskan untuk menganalisis hubungan antara suspense dan surprise dan bagaimana keduanya terhubung sehingga membentuk

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Henry Rider Haggard is a British classical novelist in the Victorian era. Haggard is the creator of "the Lost World literary genre" ("Haggard, H. Rider") which means "a fantasy or science fiction genre that involves the discovery of a new world out of time, place or both" ("Lost World"). He is also best known for his "African adventure novels" ("Haggard, H. Rider"). Haggard's style in his novels is a "blend of hidden treasures and ancient artifacts, jungle beasts, creepy ghoul and mystical spirits, lost civilization and big hearted, gun-packing gentlemen adventurers" ("Haggard, H. Rider").

Haggard has written many adventure novels. One of his greatest novels is King Solomon's Mines, published in 1885. King Solomon's Mines "has proved to

be inspirational, as it has laid the framework for adventures in exotic locales, with

his ‘lost world' transmuting easily into the ‘lost planets' favoured by writers of

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Thriller Writers' critical anthology, Thriller: 100 Must-Reads, on the best thrillers of all time" (Rogers).

King Solomon's Mines, the novel that I am going to analyse in my thesis,

tells about the journey of Allan Quartermain, the main character of this novel, in searching for a missing person and the King Solomon's treasures. In describing the journey, Haggard arranges the events in such a way that the readers will feel more and more curious; they keep asking what will happen next. The author also gives surprises until the end. So in my thesis, I am going to analyse the elements of plot which are surprise, suspense, and artistic unity of this novel.

According to Perrine in his book Story and Structure, suspense is "the

quality in a story that makes the reader ask, ‘What's going to happen next? Or how

will this turn out' and impels him to read on to find the answer of the questions" (45). Surprise is "the unexpectedness of what happens." (47); whereas artistic unity is:

. . . the condition of a successful literary work whereby all its elements work together for the achievement of its central purpose. In an artistically unified work nothing is included that is irrelevant to the central purpose, nothing is omitted that is essential to it, and the parts are arranged in the most effective order for the achievement of that purpose. ("Artistic Unity")

Statement of the Problem

The problems that are going to be analysed in this thesis are: 1. What suspense is revealed in the novel?

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Maranatha Christian University 3. How is the artistic unity presented in the novel?

Purpose of the Study

Based on the above statements of the problem, this study is conducted with the following purposes:

1. To show what suspense is revealed in the novel. 2. To show what surprise is revealed in the novel.

3. To show how the artistic unity is presented in the novel.

Method of Research

In writing this thesis, I use library research method. First, I read King Solomon's Mines as the primary text. Then I read some reference books and the

Internet sources that are relevant to the topic to support my analysis. Finally, I draw some conclusions from what has been discussed.

Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

Having analysed the novel, I conclude that Henry Rider Haggard succeeds in creating such a good story. He creates science fiction story that shows the discovery of a new place. Later, it is called "lost-world" genre. His main character, Allan Quartermain, is described only to depend on a map to King Solomon's mine, the truth of which he does not know and he also does not know what kind of obstacles that he will face when he starts to go to the mine. However, Quartermain finally succeeds in discovering King Solomon's mine. It shows that Haggard's "lost-world" story is delivered very well. He is very skillful at arousing the readers' tension and curiosity. This makes the story have good elements of plot.

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Maranatha Christian University some financial requirements. It is because he is a trader and a hunter and also he has a son who still depends on him.

After Quartermain agrees, the journey of finding Mr. Neville and King Solomon's mine begins. The next suspenses and surprises occur alternately during their journey to King Solomon's mine. They must depend only on the map which is not yet proven reliable; they also run out of water in the middle of desert; and they have to face the threats from the natives. Surprisingly, they can survive all the obstacles as the team consists of experts in their own field.

The next suspense and surprise happen when Quartermain, and his group have to pass a cave between the desert and the Solomon's Road. Quartermain sees a dead white man. Surprisingly, the body is not Sir Henry's brother. The low temperature in the cave enables Quartermain to recognise that the body is not Sir Henry's brother.

The next two suspenses and surprises continue as one of Quartermain's helper, Umbopa, turns out to be the real king of Kukuanaland who later succeeds in seizing the throne back. The explanation for this matter is given in detail so that the readers do not question the plausibility.

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The author has arranged the suspenses and the surprises in accordance with their journey. He succeeds in building the readers' tension. That is why the readers feel curious and keep reading from the beginning up to the end of the story because they want to know what will happen next in the story. He lets the first suspense unanswered till the story reaches its climax at the end of the story. Meanwhile, he gives some unexpected surprises to answer the suspenses in between. Therefore, it is obvious that the connection between the suspenses and surprises is also acceptable and plausible, which builds the artistic unity of the story.

In my opinion, Henry Rider Haggard's success in writing this novel comes from the interesting subject of the novel. Moreover, Haggard writes excellent details in describing the journey so that the readers feel that the book is easy to understand and enjoyable to read. He can write such a story in which the solution is held back in order to elevate the tension. He can lead the readers to a point where they will always wonder what will happen next to the characters in the story.

Based on my analysis above, I can say that all the events in King Solomon's Mines are systematically arranged. The journey in the storyline gives

the readers the feeling of suspense and surprise. As a result, the readers will find that the suspense and surprise are closely connected and also are acceptable and believable to built artistic unity. Despite of the fact that the early thriller novel King Solomon's Mines has less complicated plot than nowadays' thrillers, the

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary text:

Haggard, Henry Rider. King Solomon's Mines. London: Harper Collins Publisher. 2010. Print.

References:

"Artistic Unity". Humanitiesweb, 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. "Haggard, H. Rider". Authortrek. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. "Haggard, H. Rider". Fantasticfiction, 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. "Haggard, H. Rider". Goodreads, 2002. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. "Haggard, H. Rider". Infoplease, 2007. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.

"H. Rider Haggard". The Free Library by Farlex, 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. "Lost World". English Encyclopedia, 2007. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1974. Print.