Portrayal Of The Protagonist In Jill Dawson's 'Wild Boy'.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam penulisan tugas akhir untuk memenuhi persyaratan memperoleh gelar

sarjana jurusan Sastra Inggris-S1 di Fakultas Sastra Universitas Kristen Maranatha,

saya memutuskan untuk menganalisis sebuah novel karya Jill Dawson yang berjudul

Wild Boy. Fokus yang akan di analisis dari novel ini adalah karakteristik yang

dimiliki oleh tokoh utama serta perubahan yang dialaminya dan tujuan pengarang

dalam menciptakan karakter tersebut.

Novel

Wild

Boy adalah novel tentang seorang anak lelaki yg telah lama hidup

seorang diri di sebuah hutan di Prancis yang kemudian ditemukan oleh warga desa St

Sernin ketika sebelumnya ditangkap oleh pemburu beberapa tahun sebelumnya dan

berhasil melarikan diri. Anak tersebut dijadikan objek penelitian oleh beberapa orang

karena memiliki karakteristik yg sangat unik. Anak tersebut kemudian diserahkan

kepada Doktor Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard untuk dirawat dan ia kemudian memberi

nama Victor kepada anak tersebut.

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mengalami perubahan dalam karakteristiknya. Ia berubah menjadi anak lelaki

yang tidak lagi agresif, lebih dewasa, bisa bersosialisasi, beradab, dan juga

mempunyai mental yang terbelakang tingkat ‘severe’.

Perubahan karakteristik yang ditunjukan oleh tokoh utama dalam cerita ini

dipengaruhi oleh lingkungan dan juga orang – orang yang berada disekitarnya.

Viktor yang sebelumnya adalah anak yang liar dan berperilaku seperti binatang,

akhirnya mulai bisa mengontrol emosinya dan bisa menerima kehadiran manusia

lain dalam hidupnya karena sebelumnya ia hidup sendiri tanpa manusia lain

disekitarnya. Adanya lingkungan baru yang beradab dan mempunyai adat-istiadat

serta budaya, mulai mempengaruhi cara berpikir Victor sehingga ia mulai belajar

dan meniru dari apa yang ia lihat sehari-hari. Orang-orang disekitarnya juga

membantu Victor untuk belajar dan memperbaiki diri menjadi manusia yang

sesungguhnya karena Victor telah banyak ketinggalan dalam proses belajar dalam

mengenal diri, sesama dan lingkungan.

Karakteristik yang dipunyai oleh Victor adalah karakteristik dari anak

yang menderita sindrom autisme. Melalui karakter seperti itu, Jill Dawson ingin

menunjukan bahwa pengaruh orang – orang sekitar sangat penting dalam proses

perkembangan jiwa sang anak terutama peran sang ibu dalam merawat dan

menjaga sang anak dari bahaya – bahaya yang bisa mengancam jiwa anak yang

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CHAPTER TWO: PORTRAYAL OF THE PROTAGONIST IN JILL DAWSON’S WILD BOY...……… 5

CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ………...19

BIBLIOGRAPHY ………... 23

APPENDICES: Synopsis of Wild Boy ………... 25

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APPENDICES

SYNOPSIS OF WILD BOY

The novel Wild Boy is about a boy of about twelve years old who is found

by people in the forest near Aveyron. He is naked; his body is full of scars, and he

acts like an animal. He will bite people who try to approach him. He is considered

to be an idiot because of his abnormal behaviour but Doctor Itard, one of the

narrators in the novel, believes that the boy is not an idiot. He is in charge of

educating Victor. He employs Madame Guérin, another narrator in the novel, to

take care of Victor’s daily needs. Victor behaves like a beast and he cannot speak.

Doctor Itard tries to educate and civilize him. Doctor Itard teaches him to spell a

word and eat politely while Madame Guérin and her husband take care of him like

their own child. Julie, Madame Guérin’s daughter often plays with Victor and

Victor is very happy when he is together with her. He is obviously attracted by

her.

Victor becomes the centre of attraction. People want to know about the

boy who has lived in the forest for a long time. Victor is afraid when people

approach him. Later he feels comfortable with the people who are close to him.

He also wants to learn new things. They teach him how to be a ‘human being’.

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Time passes and now Victor has gained a little progress. He can speak a

few words and is not afraid to interact with people any more. Doctor Itard is very

excited to see Victor’s development although he is a little disappointed because

Victor cannot really be a normal child. However, at least he can prove that Victor

can become a better person. After five years, Itard no longer takes care of Victor.

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BIOGRAPHY JILL DAWSON

Jill Dawson is born in Durham and grows up in Staffordshire, Essex and

Yorkshire. She reads American Studies at the University of Nottingham, and then

takes a series of short-term jobs in London before studying for an MA in Writing

at Sheffield Hallam University. In 1997, she is the British Council Writing Fellow

at Amherst College, Massachusetts.

Her writing life begins as a poet, her poems being published in a variety of

small press magazines, and in one pamphlet collection, White Fish with Painted

Nails (1990). She wins an Eric Gregory Award for her poetry in 1992. She also

writes other five novels: Trick of the Light (1996); Magpie (1998), for which she

wins a London Arts Board New Writers Award; Fred and Edie (2000); Wild Boy

(2003); and most recently, Watch Me Disappear (2006). Fred and Edie is based on

the historic murder trial of Thompson and Bywaters, and is short-listed for the

2000 Whitbread Novel Award and the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction.

She is married to an architect, Meredith Bowles and lives far from her

former Hackney flat, in a village in the Fens near Ely, in a house that her husband

designs for her. She has two sons, Felix and Lewis, who is diagnosed with

Asperger syndrome – an incurable condition on the autistic spectrum. Dawson has

read an enormous amount about Asperger's and autism since Lewis is diagnosed.

One book in particular, Autism: Explaining the Enigma by Uta Frith, not only

increases Dawson's understanding of the condition, but also prompts her to write

Wild Boy. In her book, Frith claims that the "Wild Boy of Aveyron”, a

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five years, is history's first documented autistic child. Wild Boy is nominated for a

British Academy Book Award.

Jill Dawson has taught Creative Writing for many years and holds many

fellowships, including the Creative Writing Fellowship at UEA in Norwich, where

she has also taught in the MA programme in writing. In 2006, she is honoured

with a Doctorate degree from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, for her

‘significant contribution to writing, and her work in supporting emerging writers.’

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

I have chosen novel instead of another literary genre for my thesis. Novel

is more interesting to analyse than drama or poetry. It gives me more pleasure and

curiosity to understand more when reading a novel. Ian Milligan says, “Novels,

then, are exciting machines (Verbal machines) which transport their reader in

space and time…. They offer us a share in the pleasure of making because the

designs they consist of are not simply there to be seen; they have to be

understood, constructed, recreated by the reader out of the material and according

to the patterns which the fabric of their language contains – or conceals.”

(Milligan 7). For me, I think I can explore my own imagination while reading a

novel because not everything is described in it because a novel, “is a strange joint

creation of the reader and the text he holds in his hand…” (Milligan 2).

I have chosen a novel by Jill Dawson, a novelist who has gained several

literary awards including Eric Gregory Award and London Arts Board New

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Orange Prize for Fiction. Dawson’s contribution to the world of literature is

widely accepted. Since her youth, she has written so many works of literature such

as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short stories. It is said that Dawson always cares

about every word and every full stop; and she writes lyrical, elegant, stunning, or

surprising prose.

I would like to analyse her novel Wild Boy because this novel is based on

a true story about a boy who lives in a forest of Aveyron alone without his family

around him. When he is about twelve years old, he is found by the people who

make him an object of observation because of his wild behaviour. Based on this

wild boy, the author makes a fascinating story of fiction about his life after being

found by the people.

The focus of the analysis is the portrayal of the protagonist, Victor. It is

interesting to analyse Victor because he has special characteristics that are

different from those of other normal children. Victor is not aware of the existence

of human beings. He lives in his own world, but when he hears the sound of

chestnut shell cracking, he concentrates on hearing it. He also bites people who try

to approach him.

Victor’s behaviour is influenced by some psychological disorders. The

first is what psychologists recognize as autism, which is “a developmental

disorder, primarily affecting social and emotional understanding.” (Behavior

Disorder in Children).

There is also a problem related to intellectual functioning, “mental

retardation, which means that the average intellectual maturity level will probably

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than the average…. Deficits in adaptive behavior must exist concurrently with

reduced intellectual functioning” (Behavior Disorder in Children).

The American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD) classifies

Mental Retardation to four groups. IQ 52 to 67 – mild mental retardation, the

educable; IQ 36 to 51 – moderate mental retardation and IQ 20 to 35 – severe

mental retardation, the trainable; IQ 19 or below – profound mental retardation,

the custodial (Understanding children behavior disorders).

The custodial usually unable to achieve even sufficient skills to

care for basic needs, they will usually require nearly total care and supervision for

duration of lifetime. On the other hand, the trainable learns primarily in the areas

of self-help skills, very limited achievement in areas considered academic, and

their social adjustment usually limited to home and closely surrounding area

(Mental Retardation: A Life Cycle Approach). They use Gesture and sign as the

method of communication because most of them have some form of

speech/language disorder; they learn new skill slowly and have difficulty applying

knowledge although the progress may be slow, people with severe mental

retardation do learn (Mental Retardation).

In addition, there is also a problem related to emotional development, such

as “Aggression, which may be expressed through acts or, when the acts are

inhibited, through words or thoughts.” (Behavior Disorder in Children).

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.

How is the protagonist portrayed in the novel?

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PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To show how the protagonist is portrayed in the novel.

2. To show the purpose of the author in portraying such a character.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

In analysing the novel for my thesis, first I read the novel entitled Wild

Boy by Jill Dawson as the primary text. I then choose the most appropriate

element to analyse in the novel. Afterwards, I search in the Internet to know more

about the novelist and critics’ ideas about the novel as much as possible. I also

read some books related to the topic. These books provide me with sufficient data

for writing my analysis.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction,

which consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of

the study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is

the portrayal of the protagonist of the novel. Chapter Three is the Conclusion. The

thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain a short

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After reading the novel and analysing the portrayal of the protagonist in

Jill Dawson’s Wild Boy, I finally conclude that Dawson clearly describes that the

characteristics of the protagonist in the novel change. At the beginning of the

novel, the protagonist, named Victor, is portrayed as an aggressive, childish,

unsociable, uncivilized, and profoundly retarded boy. He changes into an

unaggressive, more mature, sociable, civilized, and severely retarded boy.

Dawson’s description of Victor as an aggressive, unsociable, and

uncivilized boy is realistic. Such characteristics were likely to be found in real life

if we were allowed to conduct an experiment in which a baby is deliberately

abandoned in the forest and survives alone without having any contact with

human beings but animals. The protagonist’s inability to use simple tools and to

know manners is also understandable if one is not exposed to civilization. The

description of the protagonist as a profoundly retarded boy at the beginning of the

novel is also realistic since a boy who is never exposed to a language is very

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Victor is based on a true story. People who take care of him are Doctor

Itard as his personal doctor and Madame Guérin, a woman who is hired to take

care of Victor. Dawson uses two narrators in the story, Doctor Itard and Madame

Guérin, so that the reader can distinguish between the advantages of having a

male character and the benefits of employing a female character to handle a boy

with unique characteristics. Her portrayal of the protagonist’s characteristics is

also based on her experience in dealing with her own child who is Autistic. Her

description of the protagonist as a child who needs special care and attention must

be very accurate because several characters in the novel are based on people in

real life.

By conveying her idea through Madame Guérin’s point of view, Dawson

wants to reveal that Madame Guérin gives a great deal of contribution in the

improvement of Victor’s characteristics. Dawson wants to emphasize that a

woman’s role in taking care of an autistic child is very significant. Before writing

the novel, Dawson has made an observation. She makes an effort to ask about the

real Madame Guérin, as is stated in Afterword of her Novel Wild Boy:

This remarkable woman cared for the wild boy for twenty-eight years and

yet little is known about her….I was told that although interest in Victor

and Itard has continued in the thirty years since Truffaut’s film, I was the

first person to ask about Madame Guérin.” (Dawson 289)

By portraying Victor as an autistic child, Dawson intends to remind

parents who have autistic children to take care of their children carefully because

sometimes autistic children are not aware of impending dangers. Moreover, she

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people’s feelings is wrong. They care about other people’s feelings when they are

in trouble, as is revealed in his attitude towards Madame Guérin, whose husband

has just passed away.

The changes Victor experiences are influenced by some people around

him. They are Doctor Itard, Madame Guérin, the husband of Madame Guérin,

Henri, and her daughter, Julie. Each of them has different positive impacts on the

development of his characteristics. Dawson also has a purpose in creating those

characters. He wants to show that people of different roles are needed in the

process of ‘healing’ an autistic child.

It is apparent that Dawson makes every effort to show that the presence of

Doctor Itard, Madame Guérin and Monsieur Guerin, as well as Julie, is extremely

significant in the protagonist’s improvement. Their togetherness with Victor

eventually makes him feel comfortable; he is no longer afraid to socialize with

other people. Dawson obviously wants to warn parents who have autistic children

to be patient and make consistent efforts to improve their children’s psychological

as well as physical conditions. Even though Victor’s progress is slow and he

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

Dawson, Jill. Wild Boy. London: Sceptre, 2003.

References

Bakwin, Harry. Behavior Disorder in Children. Philadelphia: WB. Saunders

Company,

1972.

Beirne-Smith, Mary, Richard F. Ittenbach, and James R. Patton. Mental Retardation.

Ohio: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2002.

Drew, Clifford J, Donald R. Logan, and Michael L. Hardman. Mental Retardation:

A Life Cycle Approach. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990.

Gelfand, Donna M. Understanding Children Behavior Disorders. New York: CBS

College Publishing, 1982.

Kimble, Gregory A, Norman Garmezy, and Edward Zigler. Principles of General

Psychology. USA: John Wiley and Sons,Inc., 1980.

Internet Sources

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“Jill Dawson”. Contemporary Writers. 2 Oct 2008

<http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03C7M125512635125>

“Jill Dawson Interview”. Writewords interview. 2005. 2 Oct. 2008

<http://www.writewords.org.uk/interviews/jill_dawson.asp>.

Jill Dawson Writer. 2 Oct. 2008

<http://www.jilldawson.co.uk/>.

Newton, Michael. “Natural Causes”. Rev. of Wild Boy, by Jill Dawson.

Guardian.co.uk. 27 Sept. 2003. 13 Oct. 2008

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/sep/27/featuresreviews.guardianrevie

w20>.

“The Sight through Memory”. Toxify. Net. 7 Oct. 2008

<http://www.toxify.net/w_sight.htm>.

Wands, D C. “Jill Dawson”. Fantastic Fiction. 13 May 2008. 7 Oct. 2008

<http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/jill-dawson/>.

Ward, Andrew. “Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron”. FeraldChildren.com: isolated,

confined, wolf, and wild children. 7 Oct. 2008