INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study
Novel reflects the transformation of the relationship between literature and art.
Novel is an invented prose narrative of considerable a lenght and acertain complexity
that deal imaginatively with human experience, usually through a connected sequence
of events involving group of persons in a spesific setting.
Roberts and Jacobs (1993:1) say, “Literature refers to compositions that tell
stories, dramatize situation, express emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas. It
commons used in poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.”
Carter and McRae (1997:3) say, “Literature is as od as human language, and as
new as tomorrow’s sunrise. And literature is everywhere, not only in books, but in
videos, television, radio, CDs, computers, newspapers in all the media of
communication where a story is told or an image created.”
Watson (1979:4) says, “A novel is a way learning about how things were or
are-cognitive instrument; and those who distruct stories as evidence should consider
how often in conversation we use them to make a points or answer questions.” It
means novel has many function to inform or make a points or in some subjects of
distruct stories.
Peck and Coyle (1998:102) say, “Most novel are concerned with ordinary
people and their problems in the societis in which they find themselves.” Some of
novels are fiction (unreal) and some of them are nonfiction (real) based on true story.
Today, novel has attracted interest and attention for many people, especially in
Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly
speaking, "literature" is used to describe anything from creative writing to more
technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works
of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and
nonfiction.
Literature is writing or studying of books, valued as works of art. Roberts et
al (1995:1) say, “literature refers to compisition that tell strories, dramatize situation,
express emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas”. Taylor (1981:1) says that
literature is like other arts, its essentially an imaginative act, that is an act of the
writer’s imagination in selecting, ordering, and interpreting life experience.
Literature helps us grow, both personally and intelectually. It provides an objective
base for knowledge and understanding. It links us with the broader cultural,
philosophic, and religious world of which we are a part. It enables us to recognize
human dreams and struggles in difference place and times that we would never
otherwise to know. It exercises our emotion through interest, concern, tension,
excitement, hope, fear, regret, laughter, and sympathy. It encourages us to assits
creative, talented people who need recognition and support.
Literature represents a language or a people, culture and tradition. But,
literature is more important than just a historical or cultural artifact. Literature
introduces us to new worlds of experience. We learn about books and literature. we
may even grow and evolve through our literary journey with books. Ultimately, we
may discover meaning in literature by looking at what the author says and how
decoding of the text is often carried out through the use of literary theory, using a
mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach.
Any literary or folklore narrative dealing with supernatural beings that return
from the dead to haunt the living. Ghost stories appear in the traditions of a wide
number of peoples and places including Amerindian and Polynesian tribes, the Middle
East and Asia, and Europe. They may date back to prehistoric times and even today
remain popular on " reality" television series, in horror films, and in online
creepypastas. Ghost stories are often told with the explicit or implicit goal of evoking fear, suspense, and "goosebumps" in the listener. Many Gothic novels are ghost
stories. Anthropologists suggest that, as is true with the current fascination with
zombie apocalypse narratives, the fear implicit in a ghost story may originate in the
instinctive revulsion and dismay humans (and many other animal species) feel when
confronted with a dead body of their own species. Fear of and revulsion toward such
dead bodies is a survival trait--obviously something dangerous to one's species--a
predator, a poison, or a pathogen--killed the dead body. So, a strong desire to avoid
the body and the surrounding area would encourage others to keep their distance. The
creators of ghost stories rely intentionally or unintentionally on this instinctive
reaction toward the dead as one of the emotional engines to shape a reaction in their
audience. Contrast with ghost characters, above.
This term should not be confused with characters who happen to appear on
stage as ghosts. Shakespearean scholars use the word "ghost characters" to refer to
characters listed in the stage directions or the list of dramatis personae but who appear
mentioned by any other characters in the play. For instance, some quarto editions of
Much Ado About Nothing list such characters in the first stage directions.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a 2013 novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The work was first published on 18 June 2013 through William Morrow and
Company and follows an unnamed man who returns to his hometown for a funeral and
remembers events that began forty years earlier. Themes in The Ocean at the End of
the Lane include the search for self-identity and the "disconnect between childhood
and adulthood".Ocean is told from the point of view of a melancholy but successful
artist returning to his childhood home in Sussex, England. On a lark, he visits an old
farm where he played as a boy, and is suddenly overwhelmed by memories of being
entangled in a magical conflict with roots stretching back before the Big Bang.
When he was 7, our unnamed protagonist spent all his time memorizing
Gilbert and Sullivan songs, reading countless books and playing with his new kitten.
Though fantasy worlds help him escape from the indifference of his family and
classmates, he can't help but notice that things are rough in the adult world. Like many
other people in the neighborhood, his parents are strapped for money. To make ends
meet, they have to take in boarders.
One of those borders is a down-on-his luck gambler who kills the boy's kitten
in an accident, and shortly thereafter kills himself in the family car. These tragedies
unleash an ancient malevolence that seems to feed on the town's collective, gnawing
desire for money — with disastrous results, especially for our protagonist. But they
also bring him into contact with an 11-year-old (or maybe billion-year-old) girl named
Lettie Hempstock, who lives with her mother and grandmother on an old farm at the
1.2 The Problem of the Study
The problem of study is how the description of ghost in novel The Ocean At
The End Of The Lane.
1.2.1 The Scope of the Study
There are many important aspects can be discussed in this novel. In writing the
paper, the writer only focuses about one of the intrinsic element of the novel that is
ghost in the novel The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman.
1.4 The Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study are :
1) To explain how the description of ghost in novel.
2) Then, the writer also hopes that this paper can increase our knowledge about
the ghost in novel.
3) And the last, the writer has to fulfill the requirement in Diploma III English
Study Program Faculty of Culture Studies, University of Sumatera Utara.
1.5 The Reason for Choosing the Topic
The writer decides to choose Neil Gaiman’s novel “The Ocean At The End Of
The Lane” as the subject of this paper because the writer thinks that the story of the
novel is very interesting with their own personalities to read, and then the novel is
including the idea that the story is quite interesting and included in the review of
literature.
1.6 The Method of the Study
In writing this paper the writer uses some research methods, such as library
research. The writer reads the novel several times and watches the movie that adapted
library research to search the information and data about the literature. The writer
browsed data from internet to find the biography of the author, then the writer makes
