Analysis of the Elements of Plot of Stephen King's Misery.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini saya akan membahas sebuah novel karya Stephen King berjudul Misery. Novel yang bergenre horror ini menceritakan pengalaman tokoh utamanya, Paul Sheldon, yang disekap dan disiksa oleh salah seorang penggemar beratnya untuk menulis novel sesuai keiinginannya. Seiring berjalannya cerita terjadi banyak hambatan dan siksaan yang dialami Paul baik dalam usahanya menyelesaikan novel maupun kabur dari penggemar beratnya itu.

Setelah membaca buku ini saya menemukan bahwa elemen yang penting dalam novel ini adalah alur cerita yang terdiri dari unsur suspense, surprise dan artistic unity. Ketegangan-ketegangan yang disusul dengan kejutan-kejutan

dibangun secara berkesinambungan sehingga membentuk artistic unity yang masuk akal dan dapat dipercaya oleh pembaca.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Horror story is “a fictional narrative (usually in prose) of variable length (but tending to be between 2,000 words and 100,000 words or more) which shocks or even frightens the readers, and/or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing” (Cuddon 388). The story usually revolves around murder, suicide,

torture, fear and madness; or about supernatural occurences such as vampires, ghost, demons, exorcism and similar topics (388). One certain writer who explored the wide topics of horror story in his works is Stephen King.

Stephen King is a famous American writer who is known for his horror stories, such as The Shining (1977),It (1986), and Misery (1987). King’s horror stories put his readers into the world he creates, “He creates engaging characters who you want to root for and puts them in situations where they have to fight to stay alive” (“Stephen King Novels”). He is adept in making the reader curious about what will happen in the story with his plot. (“Stephen King Biography”). He

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placed in a certain uncommon situation so that the readers will keep asking about any possibilities as a result of the what-if situation. “The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a what-if outline” (“Stephen King: How to Write”).

Misery, the novel I have chosen to analyze in this thesis, revolves around

the fictional author Paul Sheldon, a best-selling writer who has an accident and later is saved by Annie Wilkes, a self proclaimed number one fan of Paul. The situation seems safe as Annie nurses Paul, but it gets worse when Paul finds that she is psychologically unstable and over-affected by his best selling novel. The suspense intensifies as she imprisons and demands him to write the novel that suits her taste. In the process, she constantly tortures Paul to the point when she cuts his leg.

As the most outstanding literary element in this novel is its plot, I choose to analyze the elements of plot. Plot is “the sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed” (Perrine 43). Certain elements of plot are used to

trigger the reader’s curiosity and keep him wondering. The first element is suspense, “the quality in a story that makes the readers ask ‘What’s going to happen next?’ or ‘how will this turn out?’” (45). Suspense urges the readers to read more in order to find out the answers to these questions. The second element is surprise, “the quality that gives an unexpected result or answer for the suspense” (49). Surprise occurs when the outcome of certain incidents is different from the readers’ expectation. The third element is artistic unity,

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Maranatha Christian University unified work nothing is included that is irrelevant to the central purpose, nothing is omitted that is essential to it, and the parts are arranged in the most effective order for the achievement of that purpose. (“Artistic Unity”)

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?

2. Which parts of the story act as surprise in the novel? 3. How is the artistic unity in the novel constructed?

Purpose of the Study

Based on the above problems, the purposes of the study are: 1. To show the suspenses in the novel.

2. To show the surprises in the novel.

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

Method of Research

I use the library research in writing my thesis. First I read Stephen King’s Misery as the primary text. I also read some data from the library and the Internet

to support my analysis.Then I draw the conclusion of my analysis.

Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

Having analyzed the novel, I conclude that Stephen King has successfully created such a horror story that comes out of an ordinary situation. He creates a horrifying atmosphere from a seemingly normal and safe condition. He presents the readers with a what-if outline to attract the readers and keep them reading the novel. His main character, Paul Sheldon is placed in a what-if outline: “What will happen if Paul Sheldon, a famous author, has an accident and is saved by his number one fan?” This what-if outline is arranged skillfully through the elements

of plot.

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puts him in.

Stephen King uncovers every possible thing that will happen to the main character, Paul Sheldon. The readers are constantly wondering about Paul’s fate

every time he does something to survive his number one fan’s mood and wrath, as

she holds Paul’s fate and life. The punishments that Annie inflicts to Paul range

from simply withholding his medicine to control him, to cruelly cutting his leg with an axe, which shocks the readers.

King maintains the readers’ tension on each suspense by putting Paul in

difficult situations and clearly surprises the readers with the outcome. Such situation can be seen in the third suspense, when Annie, being angry of the death of her favorite character in Paul’s novel, gives Paul 2 difficult options. He has to

choose between his priceless original manuscript and his medicine to keep him from the pain. To the readers’ surprise, he chooses the medicine over his

manuscript, and he burns it. Here, King puts Paul in a difficult situation through Annie’s complete control over Paul with his medicine.

King creates totally unexpected situation to surprise the readers. For example, when Paul, despite his trauma and horror, manages to alert the policeman. The readers have already known that Paul is heavily traumatic because of Annie’s torture, going so far as to cut Paul’s leg to make him obey her. Still he

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Maranatha Christian University main reason why Annie keeps Paul alive all this time.

In the artistic unity, I find that all the suspenses are answered logically by the surprises. Each of them has plausibility that can be accepted by the readers. One example is the seventh suspense and the sixth surprise. Annie is angry on finding out that Paul has been sneaking out while she is away. Earlier in the sixth suspense Paul finds out that Annie is a psychopath who kills everyone that makes her angry or displeased. The readers are afraid that Paul will be the next victim. Surprisingly she does not kill him, only cuts and burns his leg. Her action of sparing Paul’s life is obviously related to the fact that she still needs Paul to finish

writing the novel she demands him to write.

In conclusion, I can say that Misery is worth reading. The readers can feel the horror over a normal what-if outline and unexpectedly see the twisted surprise here and there. There are no unnecessary events happen. The connection between the suspenses and surprises are acceptable and believable in building the artistic unity of the novel.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text:

King, Stephen Edwin. Misery. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc. 1988. Print

References:

“Artistic Unity”. Literary Terms. Humanitiesweb.org. Web 2 Oct. 2015

Cuddon, J.A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 1999. Print

DeFillipo, Marsha. “The Author” Stephen King Official Site. Web. 31 Mar. 2014

Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. Fort Worth: Hardcourt Brace College Publisher. 2002. Print.

”Stephen King-Biography” Biography Channel. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

“Stephen King: How to Write” The Guardian. Web. 1 February 2016

“Stephen King Novels” Why do people like to read Stephen King Novels. Web. 16