THE PORTRAYALS OF "JOURNEY" IN JOHN GREEN’S TWO NOVELS LOOKING FOR ALASKA AND PAPER TOWNS.

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Rendila Restu Utami, 2015

THE PORTRAYALS OF "JOURNEY" IN JOHN GREEN’S TWO NOVELS LOOKING FOR ALASKA AND PAPER TOWNS

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

THE PORTRAYALS OF "JOURNEY" IN JOHN GREEN’S TWO NOVELS LOOKING FOR ALASKA AND PAPER TOWNS

A RESEARCH PAPER

Submitted to the Department of English Education of the Faculty of Language and Literature Education

of Indonesia University of Education

in partial fulfillment of requirements for Sarjana Sastra Degree

By:

Rendila Restu Utami

1002588

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDY PROGRAM ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE EDUCATION INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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Oleh

Rendila Restu Utami

Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra

Januari 2015

Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.

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PAGE OF APPROVAL

RENDILA RESTU UTAMI

Approved by:

Supervisor

Dr. R. Safrina Noorman, M.A NIP. 196207291987032003

The Head of Department of English Education Faculty of Language and Literature Education

Indonesia University of Education

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THE PORTRAYALS OF "JOURNEY" IN JOHN GREEN’S TWO NOVELS LOOKING FOR ALASKA AND PAPER TOWNS

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu Abstract

The study compares and contrasts two of John Green's two novels entitled Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. The research in this study is conducted to understand how the similarities and differences in the portrayals of journey inside

Green’s two novels construct the main characters’ identity. This research is qualitative in nature with a structuralism approach using Narratology. This

research is carried out within the framework of Narratology employing Barthes’

Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code to see the implicit features and elements behind the plot of the two novels. The findings of this research reveal that the similarities and differences in the portrayals of journey construct the main

characters’ identity by showing how the journey taken contributed to the changing of their identity. The role of the portrayal of journey is to show the young adult readers that there are many ways to cope with the change in their lives and that the journey, metaphorical or literal, still contributed to the changing of one’s identity.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu Abstrak

Studi ini membandingkan perbedaan dan persamaan kedua buku John Green yang berjudul Looking for Alaska dan Paper Towns. Penenelitian ini dilaksanakan untuk memahami bagaimana persamaan dan perbedaan dalam penggambaran perjalanan dalan kedua novel karya Green membangun konsep identitas karacter utamanya. Penelitian ini bersifat kualitatif dengan pendekatan strukturalisme menggunakan Naratologi. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan dalam kerangka Naratologi menggunakan Hermeneutic Code dan Proairetic Code milik Barthes untuk melihat unsur – unsur implisit di balik alur cerita kedua buku tersebut. Penemuan penelitian ini memperlihatkan bahwa persamaan dan perbedaan dalam penggambaran perjalanan membangun identitas karakter utama dengan memperlihatkan bagaimana perjalanan yang telah ditempuh berkontribusi dalam perubahan identitas karakter utamanya. Peran penggambaran perjalanan adalah untuk memperlihatkan kepada para pembaca remaja bahwa ada banyak cara untuk menghadapi perubahan dalam kehidupan mereka dan perjalanan itu, baik metaforikal atau literal, tetap berkontribusi dalam perubahan identitas seseorang.

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THE PORTRAYALS OF "JOURNEY" IN JOHN GREEN’S TWO NOVELS LOOKING FOR ALASKA AND PAPER TOWNS

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu Table of Contents

PAGE OF APPROVAL ... iii

STATEMENT ... v

PREFACE ... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii

ABSTRACT ... viii

Table of Contents ... x

List of Tables ... xii

CHAPTER I ... 1

INTRODUCTION... 1

1.1 Background ... 1

1.2 Statements of Problems ... 4

1.3 Significance of Research ... 4

1.4 Aims of Research ... 4

1.5 Research Method ... 5

1.6 Definition and Clarification of Key Terms ... 6

1.7 Organization of Paper ... 8

CHAPTER II ... 9

LITERATURE REVIEW ... 9

2.1 Identity: The Concept of "Me" and "I"... 9

2.2 Journey: Metaphorical and Literal ... 11

2.3 Previous Research on John Green and His Works ... 13

CHAPTER III ... 16

RESEARCH METHOD ... 16

3.1 Research Design ... 16

3.1.1 Structuralism ... 16

3.1.2 Narratology and Roland Barthes' Code on Plotting ... 17

3.2 Subjects of Research ... 18

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3.3.1 Close Reading ... 19

3.3.2 Implementing Barthes' Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code ... 20

3.4 Data and Source of Data ... 22

3.5 Data Analysis ... 22

CHAPTER IV... 24

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 24

4.1 The Findings ... 24

4.2 Analysis of John Green's Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns using Barthes' Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code ... 24

4.2.1 Looking for Alaska ... 25

4.2.2 Paper Towns ... 30

4.3 Discussion: The "Me", The "I", and The Portrayal of Journey in John Green's Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns ... 36

4.4 The Portrayal of Journey as The Process of Change in The Main Characters' Identity 38 CHAPTER V ... 41

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ... 41

5.1 Conclusion ... 41

5.2 Suggestion ... 43

APPENDICES ... 44

Table. 1 Looking for Alaska ... 45

Table. 2 Paper Towns ... 47

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu List of Tables

Table 1 - Sample version of the data for Looking for Alaska ... 19

Table 2 - Sample version of the data for Paper Towns ... 20

Appendix 1: Table. 1 - Looking for Alaska ... 45

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter introduces the research by discussing the background of the research, statement of problem, significance of research, aims of research, brief introduction to the research method, and the organization of the paper.

1.1 Background

According to Woodward (2002), "The identity story is one that has been told around different relationships, such as those between the personal and the social and those between self and other..." (p. 1). The title of this research is "The Portrayals of 'Journey' in John Green’s Two Novels Looking For Alaska and Paper Towns." This is the theme of this research: how one's identity is shaped. In the two books, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns written by John Green, the main characters went through certain stages, a journey, in their lives due to the certain events that triggered the change of their identity. Therefore, there are

several things that need to be considered in answering that particular question above.

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through is to see through his or her perspective. In a way, literature is exactly the same thing, by giving the reader someone else's point of view, one can understand how they felt; placing oneself "in their skin." The character can be seen as the avatar in which one have placed one's perspective in, the setting as the situation in which you placed yourself in, and the plot as what you experienced throughout the story. Fludernik (2010) states that "...the language of narrative creates possible worlds... This would not be possible without the help of the reader's imagination..." (p. 40). It leads to the second point, the importance of the shaping of identity in young adult fiction.

Second, the shaping of identity is an important element in young adult fiction due to its power in making the story relatable to the target reader, the young adult, or as coined by G. Stanley Hall, "adolescent" (Benson & Collin, 2012). Young adult literature is

"...basically defined as books that are marketed towards teens and contain main characters between the ages of 12 and 18, sometimes reaching to early 20s. What young adult literature is not is a story that leaps into adulthood" (Mulhall, 2012).

It can be said that the young adult fiction has its tendencies in affecting the reader especially during the age at which, according to Hall cited in Psychology Book, the "awareness of self and the environment greatly increases; everything is more keenly felt, and sensation is sought for its own sake" (Benson & Collin, 2012, p. 47). Therefore young adult fiction is the embodiment of that particular stage in life, where there are changes happening in an individual.

In J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (1951) for example, the main character, Holden Caulfield, constructs the experiences from his slice of life to an

audience. It can be said that Salinger was trying to communicate this particular experience to the reader. The result is empathy toward Holden. In a sense,

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It can be said that there would be messages transferred in the text since no texts are free of ideology. This leads to the point of the connection between the text and the identity.

Third, what does the chosen texts tell about identity? And why does identity matter? This portrayal of "journey" that mirrored one another in the two books written by John Green, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, represented the changes in the identity of the main characters through their experiences; that there are things influencing the main characters, shaping them as changed individuals in the long run. Woodward (2002) explains that "identities are constructed through narrative and the stories we tell about ourselves..." (p. 48). In a way, by having the main characters tell the story through their perspectives in the two books, specifically in a first person perspective, can say many things as to who they are as individuals. Identity matter due to the fact that it is what young adults search for and the reason why they "are increasingly sensitive, reckless, and self - conscious" (Benson & Collin, 2012, p. 46). According to Hall in Psychology Book, "adolescence is when the very worst and best impulses in the human soul discover the phenomenon of the changes of the main character in the two books and discover why they change, what triggers the changes in their identities, and what is the outcome of the transitions that the adolescent main characters went through. The three points is framed within the use of Narratology as the means of analyzing the two texts. In An Introduction to Narratology, Fludernik (2010) explained that the focus of Narratology is the building blocks of the narrative and it can be said that the way the story is told, the narrative, contributes to the main

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 1.2 Statement of Problem

The writer wishes to discover the significance of the journey which seems to mirror the stages in the phases toward adulthood during the adolescence years

(or youth initiation toward adulthood) in John Green's two novels, particularly the change of one's identity as a result of a certain event. Why does someone’s end

can be the start of someone else’s beginning? Why does someone’s beginning can shape one’s ending? How can a single event cause a drastic change in an individual? There should be reasons behind all of the issues asked in these questions, leading to this research question:

How do the similarities and differences in the portrayals of journey in John Green's two books (Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns) construct the main characters’ identity?

1.3 Significance of Research

This research offers a more in depth look into John Green’s work other than just discussing on the impacts of the books or the controversial issues inside the books. Even though this research limits itself by using only two of John

Green’s work, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, it still contributes in giving a new perspective about the stories written by Green specifically. This research

also gives the analysis of the plot using a structuralist approach using Prince’s methodology called “Narratology”, which has been futher elaborated by Fludernik

with Barthes’ method of plot analysis using his two (out of five) codes on

plotting.

1.4 Aims of Research

This research aims to discover two things based on the two young adult

novels written by John Green Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns:

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2. To understand the differences of how the two books uses "journey" to reflect the stages of change in the main characters' identity.

1.5 Research Method

This research employs a qualitative analysis. A qualitative analysis' procedure is conducted by gathering the textual evidence. Tables also are used in order to sort the textual evidence. By using a structuralist approach, the two books can be allowed to be compared and contrasted to see the similarities and the differences using specific textual evidences from the two books.

The methodology of this structuralist research is content based analysis using Narratology. Narratology is mentioned in Herman & Vervaeck's Handbook of Narrative Analysis (2005): it is said that "According to [Barthes] a story contains codes that refer directly or indirectly to social values, norms, and beliefs." (p.119) Another view by Fludernik (2010) showed that,

"Narratology has traditionally been a sub-discipline of the research of literature and also has particularly close ties to poetics, the theory of genre, and to the semiotics, or semiology of literature...Narratology shares many characteristics with poetics because it analyses... the characteristics of (narrative) literary texts and their aesthetic (narrative) functions. And finally, narratology resembles semiotics in so far as it analyses the constitution of (narrative) meaning in texts..." (p. 9)

Basically, the two explanations of the term "narratology" showed how significant the structure and the way that the text is put together and told are. Also, since the data are analyzed using narratology and one of the elements analysed is the plotting of the story, the writer has decided to use Roland Barthes' code on plotting which consisted of the hermeneutic code, the proairetic code, the

semantic code, the symbolic code, and the cultural code (Felluga, 2013). Since the analysis of the data collected from the two books uses narratology, Barthes' code on plotting allows the dissection of the narrative further. Two codes have been chosen specifically for the purpose of focusing on the causality inside the plot: The hermeneutic code (HER) and proairetic code (ACT). Further elaboration of the research method can be seen in the third chapter.

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research is the analysis of the plot, "...a sequence of narrated events... related by causation... Discussion of plot can emphasize narrative's complicated relations with the time (chronology), order (and disorder), and generic convention..." (Keen, 2003, p. 23) The analysis of the plot will help to see the chain of events inside the stories and how it contributes to the changes in the main characters’ identity.

1.6 Definition and Clarification of Key Terms

There are several terms which are used in this research. The terms are

adolescence, journeys, identity, young adult literature, plot, narrative, and

narratology. adolescent, journey is one of the most important process to be experienced, either literally or metaphorically. Journey can be considered as

"...character progression from one place or stage to another. The theme was identified to be present when a character in the work embarks on either a literal or physical quest or a metaphorical journey, during which time they overcome a large mental, emotional, or spiritual challenge in his or her life" (Bodart, Barrineau, & Flamino, 2011).

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adolescence, with the main characters having the same age as the readers. In other words,

"Young adult novels can be basically defined as books that are marketed towards teens and contain main characters between the ages of 12 and 18, sometimes reaching to early 20s. What young adult literature is not is a story that leaps into adulthood. The majority of the stories (short of maybe

an epilogue set years in the future) take place during the characters’ teen years." (Mulhall, 2012)

An element crucial to the building blocks of a story is the plot. "Plot is a sequence of narrated events... related by causation... Discussion of plot can emphasize narrative's complicated relations with the time (chronology), order (and disorder), and generic convention." (Keen, 2003, p.23) Plot also relates to the narrative. Narrative can be defined as the way that a story is told. According to Fludernik (2010) "...the language of narrative creates possible worlds... This would not be possible without the help of the reader's imagination..." (p. 40). Narrative is different from "narratology." Narratology is the methodology of finding the underlying idea behind the structure of the story based on the

“processes and structure” of the text (Herman & Vervaeck, 2005, p. 105). According to Fludernik (2010) "Narratology", first coined by Todorov, employs a structuralist approach in the area of academic narrative study and basically,

"Narratology has traditionally been a sub-discipline of the study of literature and also has particularly close ties to poetics, the theory of genre, and to the semiotics, or semiology of literature...Narratology shares many characteristics with poetics because it analyses... the characteristics of (narrative) literary texts and their aesthetic (narrative) functions. And finally, narratology resembles semiotics in so far as it analyses the constitution of (narrative) meaning in texts..." (p. 9)

It can be said that the terms defined above helped to shape the

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 1.7 Organization of Paper

Chapter I: Introduction

The introduction consists of foundation of the research such as the background of

the research, statement of research problem, the aim of the research, and research method.

Chapter II: Theoretical Foundation

The theoretical foundation explores the literatures that relate to the subject of research.

Chapter III: Research Method

The research method explained the working procedure as well as the discipline in which the data are analyzed.

Chapter IV: Findings and Discussions

This chapter discusses the data of the research as well as the analysis of the data.

Chapter V: Conclusion and Suggestion

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

This chapter explains the method in which this research used by elaborating the design of the research, the definition used in the research, the data collection technique, and the data analysis. As mentioned in chapter two, this research uses a

structuralist approach using the methodology of “Narratology” and the data is gathered using the method of Barthes’ codes on plotting.

3.1 Research Design

This research employs a qualitative analysis. Using a structuralist approach, the two books are compared and contrasted to see the similarities and the differences using textual evidence. There are two points that need to be discussed in order to understand the design of the research: the approach of the research and the methodology of the research.

3.1.1 Structuralism

By using structuralism approach, the research focuses on the plot as one of the building blocks of the narrative, it makes the construction of the story an essential part of this research. Bressler (2007) stated that "...structuralists often approach textual analysis as if it were science..." and this is due to the fact that there are "...specific codes within the text that allow meaning to occur" (p.82). To approach the analysis of the text as if it were science means that the texts are analyzed objectively. By looking inside the texts objectively, important elements are detected. One of the important elements that can be detected inside the text are the codes embedded. This research, in particular, looks for these codes that became the tool of analyzing the two books Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns by John Green.

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text, Gerard Prince then developed Narratology (Bressler, 2007, pp. 82-83). During the research there are many elements that can be analyzed such as the characters, the plot, and the setting. These elements contributed to the building blocks of the story and often, there are repetitions inside the texts. The repetitions consisted of the terms or phrases which are used repetitively. These repetitions consisted of the codes. The codes create the patterns inside the story. Hence, the plot became the main focus in the process of finding these codes due to its nature in portraying the flow of the story.

One of the ways to dissect these codes is by using Narratology. Roland Barthes then developed a way to analyze these codes using his Code on Plotting (Felluga, 2013). Barthes stated that "a story contains codes that refer directly or indirectly to social values, norms, and beliefs" (Herman & Vervaeck, 2005, p. 119) and that “...a story consists of at least three ingredients: an initial situation, an action or event, and an outcome. Connection must be temporal and causal” (Herman & Vervaeck, 2005, p. 13). It can be gathered that the structure and the way that the text is put together and told are important since the codes are able to

reveal more about the texts other than just what is written. Thus, the research focuses on the plot of the story and employed a content based analysis using Narratology.

3.1.2 Narratology and Roland Barthes' Code on Plotting

The methodology of this research is content based analysis using Narratology. Content based analysis is essentially the use of texts as the primary source of learning and understanding the research. In this case the texts are Green's Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns.

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Barthes developed five codes on plotting to analyze a narrative: the hermeneutic code, the proairetic code, the semantic code, the symbolic code, the cultural code (Felluga, 2013). Two codes are chosen for this research: Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code. The two codes specifically help in seeing the essence of journey in both of the novels and Felluga (2013) even noted that these two codes are the main reason why there is suspense in a narrative. Basically, these two codes helped to make the connection, as in patterns, of the causality inside the story. The application will be shown in the fourth chapter of this research.

3.2 Subjects of Research

The subjects of the research are the similarities and differences in the portrayals of journey in John Green's two books (Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns) and how the portrayal of journey contributed to the construction of the main character's identity.

Looking for Alaska by John Green (2012) is about the story of the life of Miles "Pudge" Halter who goes to a private school called Culver Creek High and

met an eccentric and reckless girl named Alaska who changed the course of his life. The story turns into tragedy when Alaska was found dead in a car crash. They discovered many things about Alaska that they never know before. Looking for Alaska is a book about a person’s growth after coping with a loss of someone who is dear to them.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 3.3 Data Collection Technique

The data are collected using two major techniques: (1), close reading or an in depth reading of the two books and (2), analyzing the two books to retrieve several quotes that portray the journey in order to find the codes by implementing Barthes' code on plotting.

3.3.1 Close Reading

Based on structuralism, a textual analysis is employed. Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns were closely read to find the patterns. The patterns consist of the codes scattered inside the plot of the two books, indicating the portrayal of journey. In the two books, the codes inside the quotes are marked to signify their importance in contributing to the portrayal of the journeys. The codes are indicated by certain repetitions in the books. Those repetitions consisted of words or phrases that is continuously repeated in the book. To narrow the collection of the quotes, ten quotes were retrieved from each book. These ten quotes contained the most important points where the codes appear (see Appendices). The data are collected using tables.

Two tables are created to divide the two books and they also show columns intended to indicate the codes. The word or phrases that contained the codes inside the quotes are marked in bold and the ones that indicated the specific codes are marked in bold and underline for Hermeneutic Code (HER) and bold,

underline, and highlight for Proairetic Code (ACT)). The textual evidence

collected is arranged chronologically. The chronological arrangement signifies the plotting of the stories. The data are divided into two major sections indicating the textual evidence and the codes. This is the sample of the two tables:

LOOKING FOR ALASKA seeking a Great Perhaps.' ” (Green, Looking for Alaska, 2012, p. 5)

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu PAPER TOWNS

No. TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

CODE

HER ACT

1 Prologue V

[One day, when they were nine, Quentin and Margo found a dead body. That night

Margo goes to Quentin's room, since they lived across from one another, to talk

about what happened.]

" 'I think I maybe know why,' she finally said.

'Why?'

Maybe all the strings inside him broke, ' She said.

...

Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could

never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became

one." (Green, Paper Towns, 2012, p. 8)

(Table.2 - Paper Towns. For the complete version, consult the Appendices)

3.3.2 Implementing Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code

Ten quotes that contained the Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code are

chosen from each books. The ten quotes were chosen specifically because they contained the most important codes that contributed significantly to the plot of the

story. After ten quotes from each book are chosen and put inside the tables, two of

Barthes’ codes on plotting are implemented to analyze the quotes from the two books further. These codes are Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code. According to Felluga (2013), Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code build

“suspense” in a narrative. However, the elements of suspense does not always apply to detective novels. Both the Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska contain similar elements of suspense. Both girls, Margo and Alaska, are the mysteries that need to be solved and both girls influenced the changing of the main character’s

identity (Miles “Pudge” Halter and Quentin “Q” Jacobsen) in the two novels.

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indicated that this code plays a role in raising those questions. The proairetic code (ACT.) is the main element of the narrative that makes the reader hooked to the story, making them even more curious to discover what will happen next (Felluga, 2013). The semantic code (SEM.) adds meaning in the text that gives an implied or suggested idea (Felluga, 2013). The symbolic code (SYM.) has a role in giving a “deeper structural principle that organizes semantic meanings, usually by way of antitheses” (Felluga, 2013) meaning that this code can show the contrasting ideas inside the text. The cultural code (REF.) "designates any element in a narrative that refers to a science or a body of knowledge" (Felluga, 2013) which means that this code refers to our shared knowledge about the way the world works.

Two types of codes have been chosen specifically for this research. Those two codes are Hermeneutic Code (HER.) and Proairetic Code (ACT.). The role of hermeneutic code is to tie the beginning to the end of the story by raising

questions in readers’ mind and the role of the proairetic code is to engage the readers to the story. There are two reasons why the two codes are chosen. First, both Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code give suspense to the story (Felluga,

2013). The two codes give suspense by raising questions in readers’ minds and engaging the reader to the story, carrying the reader to the final conclusion of the

story. Therefore it fits with the element of mystery in both Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska. Second, both codes also deal with causality so it can help to analyze the significance the two books’ use of the phases as well as the repetitions of words and phrases that indicated one’s beginning and one’s ending in the portrayal of journey.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 3.4 Data and Source of Data

The data consist of textual evidence which is in the form of quotes taken from the two books, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. When putting the events of the story together, the research uses the plot of the stories: "Plot is a sequence of narrated events... related by causation... Discussion of plot can emphasize narrative's complicated relations with the time (chronology), order (and disorder), and generic convention." (Keen, 2003, p. 23) and Narratology is employed at this point.

The source of data is the two books, specifically the ten quotes: from Looking for Alaska, the codes that indicated Alaska's death and the reason of her death and from Paper Towns, the codes that indicated the clues of Margos' whereabouts and the her reason for leaving. The quotes from Green’s two books (Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns) are compared and contrasted to see the differences and similarities of the codes used inside the quotes. These codes are

identified using Barthe’s Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code.

3.5 Data Analysis

Since the two novels, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, shared many similarities as well as differences therefore an in depth analysis is needed. The data are analyzed using Barthes' Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code. The differences and similarities are compared and contrasted in order to find the portrayal of journey used in the two books. The patterns are indicated using

Barthes’ codes on plotting. The two codes are given as option to indicate the

different characteristic of the quotes and the code inside the quotes, to see whether

the quote impose questions in the reader’s mind (HER as Hermeneutic Code) or give the reader something to look forward to (ACT as Proairetic Code). Other than the change of the identity of the main characters, the codes also help to see the construction of the narrative.

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

This chapter concludes the research by summarizing the entire research as a whole. Suggestion is also given to the reader for those who wants to further elaborate the subjects of this research further.

5.1 Conclusion

This research have shown the similarities and differences in the portrayal of “journey” in John Green's two books (Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns) and how they contributed to the construction of the main character's identity. The similarities and the differences in the portrayals of the journey construct the main character's identity by showing how the journey taken contributed in the changing of their identity. The similarities of the portrayals of the journey showed that the journey taken by the main characters is due to a loss of someone. The differences of the portrayals of the journey create different kind of matured main characters in

the end.

To understand the similarities and the differences of how the two books uses journey to reflect the stages of change in the main characters' identity, the writer uses Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code as tools.

The journeys were seen through the use of Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code and Proairetic Code. The result was that these codes actually shows how the journey is experienced by the main characters in the two books by pin-pointing the patterns of clues to the conclusion of the two books.

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construction. The two novels are narrated by an adolescent male. Also, the two novels use sections to separate the phases that the main character went through. In Looking for Alaska there are simply two sections which are quite clear in their meaning: “before” and “after.” In Paper Towns, three sections are used: “The Strings,” “The Grass,” and “The Vessel.” However, the way that the story constructed the change in the main character’s identity was seen through the difference in the way the journey is portrayed. One journey metaphorical and the other a literal journey.

These differences are the fact that Green’s Paper Towns is a story about someone’s beginning that shapes another’s ending and Looking for Alaska as a story about a person’s ending that shapes another’s beginning. The metaphorical journey can be discovered in Looking for Alaska. It can be gathered that the journey to find the cause of Alaska’s death portrayed the changing in Miles “Pudge” Halter’s identity: from the rebellious teenager that could not accept the death of a friend to a more mature version of himself that can let go of his guilt and accept the loss. The literal journey can be revealed in Green’s Paper Towns.

Basically, in Paper Towns, Margo’s disappearance was the cause of Q’s change in identity: from someone who once was so blinded by idea of a person to someone

who appreciate human complexities, both the good qualities and the flaws. The differences of the two books are that the big events in the beginning which are the first sections of the books. In Looking for Alaska the girl died and in Paper Towns the girl ran away. In Looking for Alaska, Alaska’s death became the reason why Pudge became more accepting about the unknown future and in Paper Towns, Q is more aware that people should not judge other people when they do not know them very well.

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Towns “looking ” has a more literal meaning, as mentioned in the second chapter of this research.

This research reveals that since both novels are young adult novels, they both portrayed youth initiations. The similarities and the differences in the portrayals of the journeys construct the main character's identity by showing how the journey taken contributed in the changing of their identity. The journey, be it metaphorical or literal, still both contributes to the change in one’s identity. In a sense, each of the main characters from those two books may have different challenges that they faced but the ultimate outcome is becoming a better version of themselves after the journey is over, be it a death that made one realize the importance of letting go or a disappearance that made a person realize that we cannot impose one’s idea to define another human being, one intrapersonal change in Pudge from Looking for Alaska or one interpersonal change in Q from Paper Towns, both journeys are portrayed through the growth in the main characters.

5.2 Suggestion

John Green’s Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns are good example of books appropriate for teenagers to read, since the books explored issues that can be easily relatable to the problems that adolescence face. In Indonesia, books as the means of coping with changes is not a common thing. It can be said that by using these books, the teenagers cope with the changes through reading. Through these particular type of reading, they can discover their sense of self and their place in the world since the adolescence phase is a crucial time in human's life where one is transitioning from childhood to adulthood.

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