Analysis of The Elements of Plot in Michael Crichton's 'State of Fear'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Tugas akhir ini dibuat dalam rangka memenuhi persyaratan untuk memperoleh gelar Sarjana. Topiknya adalah elemen alur cerita, atau istilahnya

plot dalam bahasa Inggris. Secara khusus, tesis ini mendiskusikan elemen

suspense, surprise, dan artistic unity dalam karya sastra berbentuk novel yang

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APPENDICES

Synopsis of State of Fear

Peter Evans is a lawyer employed by George Morton, a millionaire and philanthropist who funds the operation of NERF, an environmental organization fighting for a lawsuit that condemns global warming. One day, George Morton becomes suspicious of how NERF is spending his money. After spending some time investigating NERF secretly, Morton decides to withdraw his support for NERF. However, he quite suddenly dies in a car crash. The death of Morton leaves Evans, together with Morton’s secretary named Sarah Jones, to further investigate the suspicious activities behind NERF. Helped by the military-trained John Kenner and Sanjong Thapa, Evans and Sarah uncovers ELF, an extremist environmental organization trying to drive the public and the media to think that global warming is real and dangerous. ELF uses technology to create disasters that harm people and they will then accuse global warming as the culprit.

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have faked his death, go to the dangerous island and in the end succeed in averting the potential catastrophe.

Biography of Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton was an American author famous for his work on the science fiction and medical thrillers genre. Born on the 23rd of October 1942, in Chicago, Illinois, Crichton was also a renowned General Practitioner, producer, director, and screenwriter, whose name first rocketed to fame when Jurassic Park was made into one of the highest-grossing movie adaptation in 1993.

Crichton has expressed his interest in writing since he was young, and even wrote a column for the The New York Times magazine at the age of 14. His interest in writing was influenced by his father, John Henderson Crichton, who worked as a journalist. Before enrolling in Harvard Medical School and getting his M.D. degree, Crichton once pursued undergraduate studies in literature. However, an issue with the department made him switch his concentration to biological anthrophology, from which he obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1964.

Crichton has always wanted to become a writer but did not think he could make a living as a writer, hence he enrolled in Medical School. However, his works that were only intended to pay for his tuition began to be successful, so after graduating, Crichton finally decided to write full time. He started to become famous mostly for his best-selling novels such as The Andromeda Strain and The

Great Train Robbery. He was also successful when he ventured into the film

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the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. Besides the well-known Jurassic Park, many of his novels are also adapted into movies, some of which are The Andromeda Strain, Rising Sun, Disclosure, Sphere, and Congo.

Michael Crichton, whom many regard as the father of the techno-thriller genre together with Tom Clancy, died on 4 November 2008 in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in early 2008, but was expected to make a recovery. Unfortunately, Michael Crichton succumbed to the illness at the age of 66, leaving behind his fifth wife, Sherri Alexander, and two children.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Michael Crichton is one of the most famous and successful American authors who has created not only best-selling novels but also television series and films. He is unique in the fact that he is also a physician, producer, director, and screenwriter, who has contributed mostly to the science fiction and thriller genre. He was the recipient of Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1968 and the Association of American Medical Writers Award in 1970, and he also received a few awards for his work on the ER TV series and The Great Train

Robbery movie in 1980. Michael Crichton’s works are easily recognized from

their distinctive style of having very thorough technical details, especially regarding technology. Because of this, Crichton, together with another famous American author, Tom Clancy, is considered the father of the modern techno-thriller. Some of Crichton’s techno-thriller novels are also very successful, namely

The Andromeda Strain (1969), Jurassic Park (1990), Airframe (1996), Prey

(2002), Next (2006), and State of Fear (2004).

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Maranatha Christian University technology, including computers, weapons, software, military technology, or other machines. (“techno-thriller”) I think that in this modern day, techno-thriller has become a major appeal in the broader scope of the thriller genre. It emphasizes on plausible future technology, hence making it very exciting for many, especially for the increasingly tech-savvy people of today’s society. Furthermore, I believe this appeal is especially true for Crichton’s State of Fear.

State of Fear, first published in 2004, sparks controversy about the

increasingly significant topic of Global Warming, because it contains Michael Crichton’s provocative point of view regarding the topic. State of Fear contradicts the popular belief of Global Warming being a modern-day crisis, and puts up eco-terrorism supported by futuristic technology to emphasize its purpose. Interestingly, State of Fear has enjoyed many favourable reviews and been dubbed “one of Crichton’s best” (Kirschling), and it received Geosciences in the Media award by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, or AAPG, in 2006. In my opinion, State of Fear truly brims with moments of tension and suspense, and it presents fascinating elaboration of the various technology and technical details.

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Maranatha Christian University out?’ and impels him to read on to find the answers to these questions.” (45) However, Perrine also explains that suspense cannot exist if the reader knows exactly what is going to happen in the story and why. Therefore, a good plot also needs a degree of unexpectedness of what happens in the story, which comes in the form of surprise. The element of surprise becomes pronounced when the story deviates widely or departs radically from the reader’s expectation (47).

When we discuss the plot of a story, Artistic Unity is a key element to determine whether it is a good plot or not. Laurence Perrine states that to achieve an Artistic Unity, everything must be relevant to the central intention of the story, contribute to its total meaning, and must also be arranged in the most effective order to make a logical story progression. (49) Therefore, I am interested and deliberately driven to discuss how Michael Crichton’s State of Fear delivers the excitement of its plot, which comes through moments of suspense and surprising revelations, and whether the arrangements of the elements of plot sufficiently present an artistic unity or not.

Statement of the Problem

The problems that are going to be analysed in this thesis are: 1. Which parts of the story act as suspense in the novel?

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Maranatha Christian University Purpose of the Study

Based on the statement of the problem, this study has the following purposes:

1. To reveal the suspense in the novel 2. To reveal the surprise in the novel

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

Method of Research

I use library research in writing my thesis. I begin by reading State of Fear as the primary text, followed by classification of data gathered from the novel in accordance with the purpose of the study. Next, I refer to books of theories of literature which serve as the base for my analysis of portrayal. In addition, I search for other references from the Internet to support my analysis. Finally, I draw conclusions based on my analysis.

Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After reading and analysing the State of Fear, I come to the conclusion that the author, Michael Crichton, has the ability to create a good plot. Crichton succeeds in presenting moments of suspense through various actions, events and grand technologies, to create appropriate elements of plot that result in a well-arranged story.

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Maranatha Christian University The second suspense happens when George Morton is involved in a car crash, and is presumed to have died. In the banquet held by NERF before the accident, Morton shocks almost everyone who attends when he announces his decision to withdraw his support for NERF. His announcement creates an atmosphere of anger and disapproval among the audience, which also includes the head of NERF itself, who clearly shows his anger. The situation makes the reader curious about whether the car crash is truly an accident or not. The suspense is answered by a surprise when George Morton turns out to be alive. Morton stages the accident and fakes his death so that he can continue his investigation around NERF and ELF more freely. It is apparent that the second suspense and the fifth surprise are believable and hence, acceptable.

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Maranatha Christian University The fourth suspense shows when the group of protagonists discovers the location where ELF plans to carry out their next major event, which is McKinley State Park. ELF is revealed to possess the technology that can even control the weather, which makes the reader excited to find out what ELF is planning to achieve by attempting to control the weather, and whether the group of protagonists will be able to stop them or not. The suspense is answered by a surprise when ELF is shown to control a storm that is intended to cause civilian casualties, to attract the attention of the media to the danger of global warming. It shows how much ELF is willing to do to achieve their objective. The reader is also surprised when the group of protagonists is shown to successfully prevent the loss of innocent lives. ELF manage to carry out their plan to strengthen the storm enough to cause floods in the park, but the group of protagonists is able to disrupt and prevent ELF from causing a truly dangerous flash flood. It is clear that the fourth suspense and the third surprise are plausible and acceptable.

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Maranatha Christian University disaster is caused by global warming. Furthermore, the reader is also surprised by the fact that the group of protagonists is able to fight against ELF and prevent them from devastating California despite the unfavorable situation. The group manages to take advantage of an opportunity to attack the ELF base when John Kenner creates a distraction, and hence succeeded in turning off one of the machine that is essential in creating the tsunami. From the explanation above, it is apparent that the fifth suspense and the fourth surprise, as well as the sixth surprise are believable and acceptable.

The sixth suspense shows how dangerous the situation is for the group of major characters, as they are ambushed and captured by a tribe of cannibals on the island of Gareda. After one person from the group dies at the hand of the cannibals, the reader wants to know if the rest of the group will survive. The suspense is answered by a surprise which shows that George Morton is actually alive after being assumed to have died in a car accident earlier in the story. He staged the car accident to investigate NERF and ELF, which leads him to the island where the group of major characters also goes to. Morton witnesses the moment when the group of major characters are captured, follows them to the village of the cannibals, and helps them escape from the village. It is obvious that the sixth suspense and the fifth surprise are plausible and acceptable.

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Maranatha Christian University development of the plot. He is good at delivering the suspense that is intertwined with moments of mystery, and often wondrous technology, in such a way that the reader feels curious about what will happen next. Crichton is also skillful at surprising the reader with unexpected surprises that logically and appropriately answer the reader’s curiosity. As the conclusion, the connections between all the suspense and the surprises in the novel are acceptable and plausible and create an artistic unity that makes State of Fear very interesting to read. In addition, I think Michael Crichton presents all the elements of plot in a balanced proportion, without highlighting one element more than the others. Consequently, State of

Fear presents numerous moments of exciting suspense that is balanced with the

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts

Crichton, Michael. State of Fear. New York: Avon Books, 2004. Print.

References

“About Michael Crichton”. Michael Crichton The Official Site. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

Kirschling, Gregory. “State of Fear”. Entertainment Weekly. 797: 17 Dec. 2004. 5 Feb. 2014.

“Michael Crichton”. The Biography Channel. 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. Atlanta: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,

1974. Print.

“Q & A with Michael Crichton”. Michael Crichton The Official Site. 2013. Web. 10 Aug. 2014.

Smith, David. “King of techno-thriller.” theguardian. Dec 2006. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.