4
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1Novel
Literature is an interpretation of man’s life by using language as its
medium. According to (Robert, 1993: 1) literature is writing which expresses and
communicates thoughts, feelings, and attitudes toward life. It is also happened on
novel as one of the genre of literature. Novel is one of the literary works that are
part of prose. Novel is a fictional prose narrative of considerable length, typically
having a plot that is unfolded by the actions, speech, and thoughts of the
characters. By analyzing a novel, the writer wants to get interpretation of life.
Here, the writer will analyze the novel by its intrinsic elements.
According to (Robert, 1993: 1), a learning to read fiction well, we must
understand something about its technique. One useful way to approach the
techniques of fiction is to describe a basic elements or characteristics: plot,
character, setting, style, and theme. For analyzing this novel, here are the
descriptions of those elements:
2.2Plot
The action element in fiction is the arrangement of events that make up
story. A story’s plot keeps us turning pages: we read to find out what will happen
next. But for a plot to be effective, it must include a sequence of incidents or bear
a significant causal relationship to each other. Causality is an important lecture of
realistic fictional plots: it simply means that one thing happens because as a result
5
Many fictional plots turn on a conflict, or struggle between opposing
forces. That is usually resolved by the end of the story. Typical fictional plots
begin with an exposition that provides background information we need to make
sense of the action, describes the setting, and introduces the major characters:
these plots develop a series of complications or intensifications of the conflict that
lead to a crisis or moment og great tension. Whatever the plot or a story may be,
the writer has ordered the events with a view born to the overall meaning and to
the responses of readers. To appreciate fictional plot. Therefore, we should think
about our experience in reading a story and remember what we thought and felt at
different points.
2.3 Character
In fiction can be conveniently classified as major and minor, stati and
dynamic. A major character is an important figure at the center of the story’s
action or theme. Usually a character’s status as major or minor is clear. On
occasion, however not one but two character’s may dominate a story.
The major character is sometime called a protagonist whose conflict with
an antagonist may spark the story’s conflict. Supporting the major character are
one or more secondary or minor characters whose function is partly to illuminate
the major characters. Minor characters are often static or unchanging: they remain
the same fro the beginning of a work to the end. Dynamic characters, on the other
hand, exhibit some kind of change of attitude, of purpose, of behavior of the story
6 2.4Setting
The place or location of a story’s action along with the time in which it
occurs is its setting. For writer like James Joyce and William Faulkner, setting is
essential to meaning. Functioning as more than a simple backdrop for action, it
provides a historical and cultural context that enhances our understanding of the
