A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER : A study of focalization.

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Rindra Nuriza, 2014

A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT IN R.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER

(A study of focalization)

A Research Paper

Submitted to English Education Department of FPBS UPI as partial fulfilment of the requirements for Sarjana Sastra degree

by

Rindra Nuriza

0906115

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS EDUCATION

INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

BANDUNG

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Perkembangan Karakter Anak dalam

Novel Fiksi Realistis Anak

Wonder

Karya R.J. Palacio (Sebuah studi

tentang fokalisasi)

Oleh Rindra Nuriza

Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana Sastra pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni

Juni 2014

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu PAGE OF APPROVAL

RINDRA NURIZA

A CHILD CHARACTER’S DEVELOPMENT INR.J. PALACIO’S CHILDREN’S REALISTIC FICTION NOVEL WONDER (A study of

focalization)

Approved by:

Supervisor I,

Bachrudin Musthafa, M.A., Ph.D.

NIP. 195703101987031001

Supervisor II,

Nia Nafisah, M.Pd.

NIP. 197104242006042001

Head of English Education Department

Faculty of Languages and Arts Education

Indonesia University of Education

Prof. Dr. H. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS

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2.1 The nature of children’s literature... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2 Contemporary children’s realistic fiction ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2.1 Characteristics of children’s realistic fictionError! Bookmark not defined. 2.2.2 Types of children’s realistic fiction ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3 Character and characterisation ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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3.1.1 About the author ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.2 Synopsis of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder ... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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A. August’s developing character... x

B. August’s developed character ... xxi

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides the description of how the research was conducted to

answer the research questions: (1) In what ways is the main character in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder developed? (2) How does focalization contribute to the main

character’s development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder? Therefore, it covers the

explanation of object of the research, research method, context of the research and

data presentation.

3.1 Object of the research

The research focuses on multiple characters’ focalization that indicates August character’s development—the main character in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (New

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). The novel consists of 316 pages and has been translated into eight languages. It is regarded as children’s realistic fiction, since it drops several hints of human’s abnormality, child’s self-importance and the issues of school. In line with that, it takes the idea of childhood in different

perspective—utilizes a deformed child’s perspective in facing the problems of

life, thereby inviting and encouraging the writer’s interest in analyzing the

development of a child character.

3.1.1 About the author

Raquel Jaramillo Palacio is both an art director and a book jacket designer. She

lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two sons. After more than 20

years being a graphic designer, she materialized the urge to write her debut

novel—Wonder. Her son’s experience when encountering a kid with facial

deformity inspired her to put her ideas out into the novel. Apparently, being the

author of a book which has ever been awarded #1 on The New York Times

Bestseller, Texas Bluebonnet Award, Lunchs des Monats on lynx of the month by

Die Zeit Newspaper, Carnegie Medal in Literature Nominee, The Judy Lopez

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Middle Readers, and Waterstones Children's Book Prize made her the nominee for the TIME For Kids’ 2012 person of the year. After the book was successfully marketed, she made an anti-bullying program on her website (choosekind.tumblr.com) and then got thousands children’s supports to help end bullying.

3.1.2 Synopsis of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder

R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012) presents children’s

realistic fiction story concerning a kid, named August Pullman, who was born

with a facial deformity struggling to convince the society that he is just as

ordinary as other kids, regardless his appearance. The story starts when August is

about to enter the fifth grade at the age of ten. Before that, he was being

homeschooled because the anomaly on his face needed to be cared every time.

Throughout the fifth grade year, there are problems he has to deal with. At

the beginning, other kids look at him as if he has a plague. Therefore, no kids want to befriend him. Moreover, he is often bullied by Julian’s gang, being mocked and jibed at his face. As the time goes by, there is a few kids gelling with

August—especially Jack and Summer—after realizing that August is just the

same as the kids in general. On the other hand, it does not stop August from

getting trouble. There is a clash between August and Jack in the Halloween Day

which makes August decide to quit school. Though, August and Jack reunite eventually. At the same time, Julian’s gang often plays tricks on them, since they know Jack has been being friend with August.

The story reaches climax when the fifth graders of Beecher Prep go camping

at the end of the year. August encounters some students from another school who

make fun of his face. Knowing this, some fifth graders, including Miles and Henry who used to be August’s rivals, support and fight for him. Meanwhile, August’s family who used to baby August all the time realizes that August does not want to be treated like he is still a baby.

After getting through lots of problems during the year, August learns the

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personalities. Hence, in the end, he got a medal from the school awards for

inspiring other people. His social life becomes different and everything is changed

afterwards. The most important thing, August is then noticed for the way he is.

3.2 Research method

The research was guided by qualitative research design with descriptive analysis

as a part of the method, since it was related to spoken and written language rather

than numbers (Polkinghorne, 2005). More precisely, the research collected data in

the form of written texts—the excerpts of characters’ focalization in the novel—

which were consequently interpreted, elaborated and described for the evidential

grounded data to base the findings—which were drawn dependent on a single writer’s interpretation—regarding the main character’s development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). In supporting this,

according to Airasian, Gay & Mills (2006), qualitative research allows the writer

to collect data consisting large words (or text) to be described and analyzed

related to their themes, and to conduct the inquiry in a subjective, biased manner.

Therefore, qualitative research fits the research.

In line with that, as suggested by Hancock, Ockleford & Windridge (2009),

the nature of qualitative research focuses on how people can have different

perspectives towards reality or the real world contexts, which are reported through

description or interpretation based on their accounts. Consequently, all findings

within the research determine on whether the entire data have been clearly

described or not (Alwasillah, 2000). For Creswell (2007), in order to clarify the

data, the description of them should involve detailed rendering of information

about people, places, or events in a setting, so that the readers know where the

findings were derived. Besides, due to this matter of the research is concerning character’s development in a novel, it is hard to express the data numerically. Thus, the form of written text data could effectively be conducted as the primary

ground to illustrate the findings.

To clearly describe the data in the present research, the writer arranged the

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attempted to illustrate cause and effects of selective narrative events through characters’ focalization on the main character’s development. Furthermore, the description of data also denoted information regarding the kind of relationship

between the main character and the others whereby affecting the main character to

develop.

As a result, qualitative research design with descriptive analysis method was

applied as the guiding to examine the data needed to answer the research

questions. In the attempt to answer the research questions, intensive reading

regarding related framework was conducted following these sequences adapted

from Cresswell (2009):

a. Reading the whole novel carefully, in order to understand the overall

story-line, major issues and general sense of the story.

b. Preparing for collecting the data analysis by re-reading the novel in detail, to

gain more comprehensive understanding concerning the main character

within the story and then taking memos about it.

c. Highlighting the key narrative events in the story in which they become the catalyst for changes in the main character’s personalities and attitudes, and specifically selecting multiple characters’ focalization that contribute to the main character’s development.

d. Identifying the data collection by engaging it with the frameworks and

previous research that have been elaborated in Chapter II.

e. Generating the data analysis into narrative passage, by making elaboration

and interpretation to draw the findings in connection with the theories

applied.

f. Discussing the findings to draw the conclusion and giving some suggestions

eventually.

3.3 Context of the research

The analysis of character’s development in the research was limited to the main character, August. Due to the analysis, the characters’ focalization in the form of

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relation to some narrative events in the story. Apparently, there are six characters

whose focalization involved in the story: (1) August: the main character, (2) Via: August’s elder sister, (3) Summer: August’s friend at school, (4) Jack: August’s best friend at school, (5) Justin: Via’s boy friend, and (6) Miranda: Via’s old

friend. In this regard, multiple focalization is specifically identified to give a clear

picture of August’s changes in personalities and attitudes.

3.4 Data presentation

The following sample is the data analysis in the form of table concerning the

gradual changes in August’s traits that can be noticed from the sequence of

events. In this context, the cause and effect of what the characters focalize culminate in the development for August’s character.

3.1 Sample table of August’s character development

No. Narrative

Events Character(s) Focalization Cause

Effect on

sanitizer before they catch

the Plague. I’m not sure

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

After discussing the findings and discussion, this chapter presents the conclusions

of the research which aimed at investigating the ways the main character’s developed and identifying the contributions of focalization to the main character’s

development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder. It also provides suggestions for readers

who might be interested in the same issues discussed in the research.

5.1 Conclusions

Due to examining research based on a novel, the writer collected data in the form

of textual evidences, in particular, dialogues, conversations, actions, feelings and

thoughts to analyze a child character’s development in contemporary realistic fiction.

In line with the first purpose of the research which is to unearth the ways the

main character is developed, it can be concluded that the main character

developed through two ways: four narrative events and the characters’

focalization. Since narrative events refer to the transition from one condition to

another that are experienced by characters, it leads to the process of the main

character’s development. In the beginning, August suffers from low self-esteem. As the narrative events go on, he changes to be more confident and even

honourable in other people’s eyes. In this way, August’s character undergoes the

betterment. The betterment is equally apparent from the characters’ focalization.

Since focalization refers to the character’s personal views, it helps explicating the

main character’s characterisation and ascribes information about key events that stimulate August to develop.

In regard with the second purpose of the research which is to find out the

contributions of focalization to the main character’s development, based on the findings, the six characters’ focalization gives a clear picture about August’s life through different personal perceptions. Cognitive, perceptual and emotional

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changes. Since Bal’s notions on focalization concerns relational effects between the agents who focalize and the focalized objects, the relationships between

August and other characters essentially influence his development. As a result,

they give a more comprehensive portrayal of August’s character development objectively.

It becomes apparent that the character development of a deformed child

teaches children to value their life more and be tolerant with any child whose life

is not as lucky as theirs. The fact that different views from people always interfere

especially when children have particular problems of life, helps children accept

others’ opinions, and strengthens their tolerance in dealing with different types of people. At this point, the novel implies that a child’s character development is influenced by many factors: home and school, the relationships between family

and peers, and other people’s opinions or judgments. That is to say, the

character’s development in R.J. Palacio’s Wonder contributes to children’s

betterment.

5.2 Suggestions

Based on the writer’s experiences after conducting the research, here are some

suggestions for future research/researchers:

1. It is recommended for the researchers who intend to conduct research

concerning children literature to explore other topics related to characters, but

in other genre or form. For instances, in picture books, children’s fantasy fiction, etc, since the research about children’s literature are still few in English Department.

2. With respect to the issue regarding character development, the next researchers

could make comparative analysis of the main character’s development in other

form of literature, for instance, between novel and movie. It may focus on

either children’s or adult’s characters.

3. Applying narrative theory in children’s literature is quite hard to apply, since narratology seems inadequate with specialized terms and complex concepts.

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stories’ or poems’ analyses before examining broader objects are really needed