Analysis of The Theme Through The Portrayal and Action of The Protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro's 'When We Were Orphans'.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini, saya ingin membahas tema When We Were Orphans, sebuah novel karya Kazuo Ishiguro. Saya menggunakan pendekatan instrinsik dalam pembahasan tema melalui penokohan dan tindakan tokoh utama. Tema tersebut berhubungan erat dengan kesulitan-kesulitan yang dihadapi dapat membentuk pribadi seseorang menjadi lebih tabah dan realistis.

Novel When We Were Orphans bercerita tentang seorang yang bernama Christopher Banks, yang menemukan banyak kesulitan dalam hidupnya. Kesulitan yang dihadapinya sebagian besar berhubungan erat dengan hilangnya orang tuanya saat ia masih kecil, proses ia mencari orang tuanya, dan ketika ia menemukan fakta-fakta tentang orang tuanya. Namun, kesulitan terbesar yang dirasakannya adalah saat ia kehilangan orang tuanya ketika ia masih kecil dan mengharuskan dia tinggal bersama bibinya. Kondisi tersebut memaksa Chtistopher Banks untuk tidak bergantung kepada orang lain dan menjadi lebih tegar hidup tanpa orang tuanya.

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dilatarbelakangi keadaan di mana ia kehilangan orang tuanya. Christopher Banks menjadi termotivasi untuk menyelesaikan kasus teka-teki hilangnya orang tuanya.

Saat mencari orang tuanya, Christopher Banks menemukan fakta-fakta yang dapat membuat dirinya kecewa. Namun, karena ditempa oleh banyaknya kesulitan yang pernah dihadapinya membuat ia menjadi lebih tabah. Hal tersebut terjadi karena pribadi Christopher Banks telah ditempa oleh banyaknya masalah yang membuatnya menjadi pribadi yang lebih kuat dan lebih realistis dalam melihat kehidupan.

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APPENDICES

Synopsis of When We Were Orphans

Christopher Banks lives in the privileged haven of the International settlement of Shanghai. His father works for the branch of a large English company, Morganbrook and Byatt. His mother is a social activist of sorts, railing against the opium trade in Shanghai.

When Christopher Banks was nine years old, his father suddenly disappeared and everybody thought that he was kidnapped. Since his father disappeared, Christopher Banks had guarded his mother very carefully. He was afraid his mother would be kidnapped as his father was. But when he was out, his mother also was missing and he was sure that his mother also had been kidnapped.

Before his parents were found, in 1911 Christopher Banks had to go to England to live with his aunt. There he grew up and was determined to become a detective in his adult life. He was motivated by his failure in the past to guard his parents which made him eager to clear up the mysterious disappearance of his parents.

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he would get information about his parents there. But actually the owner of the house had never met his parents. Christopher Banks finally met Inspector Kung and got the information about the house where his parents were supposed to be imprisoned.

Christopher Banks did not know the truth until he met his parents’ friend Uncle Philip, who told him that his father ran off with his mistress, and lived with her in Hong Kong for a year, but then he died from typhoid two years later in Singapore. On the other hand, his mother offended an opium warlord who arranged for her to be kidnapped and kept her. Christopher Banks’ mother agrees to submit to him, provided that he gave Banks financial support until he grew up. However, some 22 years later the warlord died and Christopher Banks’ mother disappeared in war-torn China.

Finally, he found his mother in 1953 in a Hong Kong religious institution for the mentally disturbed. Still, she did not recognize him. He wanted to be with her in England but he thought she would prefer to spend the rest of her life in the west. Finally, Christopher Banks return to England and spend the rest of his life alone.

Biography of Kazuo Ishiguro

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And after graduating, he was employed as a residential social worker in London. At the University of East Anglia, he studied creative writing to complete a Creative Master program. While studying Ishiguro began to write fiction to put down on papers his early memories of Japan.

Ishiguro has been a fulltime writer since 1982. No sooner had his first novel been promoted than Ishiguro was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 ‘best of young British writers’. He was also included in the same promotion when it was repeated in 1993. Besides writing novels, Ishiguro also writes short stories published in Introductions 7:Stories by New Writers.

His first novel, A Pale View of Hills, won the Winifret Holtby Prize. His second novel, An Artist of Floating World, which is the winner of the 1986 Whitbread Book of the year award, Premio Scanno, and was short listed for the 1986 booker prize. The Remains of the Day, won the 1989 Booker Prize, and his next novel, Unconsoled, was awarded the Cheltenhan Prize in 1995. And When We Were Orphans was short listed for the 2000 Booker Prize, and Whitbread Novel of the Year.

Ishiguro has also written two original screenplays for Chanel 4 Television, broadcast in 1984 A Profile of Arthur J. Manson, and The Gourmet, broadcast in 1986. He was awarded the OBE in 1995 for services to literature and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Letters by the French government in 1998. Ishiguro works have been translated into over 30 languages.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Novel is a literary work which is long and complicated. Moreover, like poetry or drama, novel has its own specialty in conveying a message. Even though novel is the most complicated genre, it gives more details than the other literary genres and can make the reader get a clear idea of what the story is about. Peck and Coyle in Literary Terms And Criticism: A Student’s Guide state that novel is “a long work with a great amount of detail on every page. They do present all the complicating text that needs to be taken into account before we can reach any sort of judgment”. (Peck and Coyle, 1984:103). Therefore, I am of the opinion that novel is challenging and enjoyable to analyze.

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Kazuo Ishiguro is a British citizen of Japanese descent, a writer in the twentieth century, who always writes “about the relationship between parents and children. Kazuo Ishiguro uses language, genre and literary form that most distinguish his work and account for its power and hold over his reader. He has near perfect ear for rhythms of the English language, and a remarkably lucid prose style that is almost unmatched among modern writers”. (www. Geocities.com/SoHo/Nook/1082/ Kazuo Ishiguro page.html).

I notice that the theme of the novel is the most prominent element in When We Were Orphans. According to Shaw in Dictionary of Literary Terms, theme is “the central idea or dominating idea in literary work. “ (Shaw, 1972: 378). Revealing the theme through the portrayal and action of the protagonist is very significant. According to Kenney in How to Analyze Fiction “As a major element in fiction, character is obviously of major importance for the theme” (Kenney, 1996: 94-95). This fact makes me interested to analyze the theme by using intrinsic approach as the idea of the story is revealed through portrayal and action of the character.

Statement of the Problem

In order to analyze the topic chosen, I state the problems as follows: 1. What is the theme of When We Were Orphans?

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Purpose of the Study The study is done:

1. To analyze the theme of When We Were Orphans.

2. To show how the portrayal and action of the protagonist help to reveal the theme.

Method of Research

In analysing the literary work, I use library research. First, I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans as my primary text. I also read several books which are relevant to the topic being discussed; and I use further information from the internet to support my thesis. Finally, I draw some conclusions of what has been discussed.

Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I am going to conclude my analysis on the theme of Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans which is revealed through the portrayal and action of the protagonist. The theme of the novel is “Difficulties often shape one to be a tough and realistic person”.

Christopher Banks, who is the protagonist of the novel, faces a lot of difficulties in his life. He faces the biggest difficulty in his life when his parents disappear in his childhood. As a result, he must survive by himself. I find out that Christopher Banks faces his biggest difficulties in optimism and becomes tough.

In the process of finding his parents, Christopher Banks also faces a lot of difficulties. Yet, the difficulties cannot make him give up to the conditions. On the contrary, he faces them in optimism and persistence, which makes him tough in facing the next difficulties in his life.

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parents. Christopher Banks wants to solve the mystery of his missing parents, so he works hard and becomes the most brilliant detective. Through his experience in solving many cases, he always learns how to solve his own case.

Christopher Banks may be disappointed by the truth about his parents, but he is tough enough to accept the truth and he turns to be a realistic person. So I can conclude that the many difficulties which Christopher Banks faces urge him to become a tough person and turn him to be a realistic person.

Human beings face difficulties in their lives. Moreover, there are two attitudes in facing the difficulties, which are negative and positive. A man who faces difficulties negatively cannot survive and he will be led into depression. On the other hand, a man who can face his difficulties positively will be tough. He does not give up to difficulties and he can find the way-out of the difficulties. Through the difficulties, a man can learn a lot about life and is usually shaped to be a tough and realistic person.

I find that the theme of the novel is related to the title. I assume the title When We Were Orphans is related to everyone in the world. Just like orphans; we are struggle searching for some essential point in our lives. We sometimes can deal with it and move on, but sometimes we are permanently stunted by our loss. Phrasing the title in the past tense indicates that Christopher Banks has finally succeeded to find important point in his life and he has moved on. Although the reality turns out to be far from his hope, he has been successful in finding the important answer in his life.

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be being optimistic, persistent and never give up as it has been done by Christopher Banks in When We Were Orphans. For this particular reason, I consider this novel to be worth reading and analyzing. The best way to deal with difficulties is to cope with it and move on.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References:

Kenney, W. How To Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press., 1996. Peck, John and Coyle, Martin. Literary Terms And Criticism: A Students’ Guide. London; Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1984.

Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw-hill, Inc., 1972.

Internet Web Site:

Geocities online. Kazuo Ishiguro Page. 21 February 2005

<http://www. Geocities.com/SoHo/Nook/1082/ Kazuo Ishiguro page.html.>

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