Analysis of Theme Through Inner Conflicts in Paulo Coelho's 'The Devil and Miss Prym'.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini saya menganalisa sebuah novel berjudul The Devil and Miss Prym karya Paulo Coelho, seorang penulis novel kelahiran Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Sebelum menjadi penulis, dia bekerja sebagai sutradara teater dan seorang jurnalis.

Elemen yang saya analisa dalam novel ini adalah tema melalui konflik batin yang dialami oleh beberapa karakter, keputusan yang dibuat oleh karakter tersebut setelah mengalami konflik batin, dan pada akhirnya konsekuensi yang harus ditanggung oleh setiap karakter dari keputusan yang mereka buat.

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APPENDICES

SYNOPSIS OF THE DEVIL AND MISS PRYM

Viscos is a small village where people are friendly and religious. People in

Viscos are worried that they are going to be the last generation of farmers in that

mountain village. Sooner or later, machines and technologies will replace the

farmers. The village itself perhaps will be sold to a multinational corporation and

changed into a ski resort.

In that situation, a stranger comes into the village and offers eleven pieces

of gold to a citizen of Viscos named Chantal. In order to posses this gold, Chantal

or the people in the village must kill a person in the village. The stranger wants to

prove whether human is basically good or evil.

The people in the village accept the offer. They decide to kill Berta, who is

the oldest person in the village. When they are ready to kill Berta with their gun,

they realize that they are making a mistake. Finally they decide not to kill Berta

and reject the offer from the stranger.

The stranger finds the answer to his question that human beings are

actually born to be good. So, he thanks Chantal for helping him find the answer.

As a reward, he gives all the gold to Chantal. In the end, Chantal can leave the

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BIOGRAPHY

Paulo Coelho was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1947.

Before he dedicated his life to literature, he worked as a theatre director and actor,

lyricist and journalist. He very interested about spiritual quest.

Coelho writes each story in a beautiful language, poetic prose and

symbolism. Most of his books tell about love, devotion, sacrifice and struggle to

find the right path in life.

His first book, Hell Archives, failed to make any impact. However, he

succeds with his other works including Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By

the River of Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994), The Fifth Mountain (1996),

Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika Decides to Dies (1998), The Devil

and Miss Prym (2000), The Complication of Traditional Tales in Stories for

Parents, Children and Grand Children (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir

(2005).

Up to now, Coelho has sold a total of 75 million copies and in 2003, his

book Eleven Minutes was considered the best-seller according to the Magazine

Publishing Trend. Coelho other work, The Alchemist is one of the most important

literary phenomena of 20th century.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

“Literature is a form of human expression” (Rexroth). It can be in the form of stories, poems, and plays that revolve around a particular topic. Most of them are concerned with the realities in life, for example love, happiness, death, and many more. According to Perrine, literature can give us a picture of life, which can enlarge our understanding about this world. “Interpretive literature takes us, through the imagination, deeper into the real world: it enables us to understand our trouble” (Perrine 4). It means a literary work can teach us about what life really is and give some deep moral advice.

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There are many types of novel such as thriller, romance, or science fictions and many more. Each type of novel has a unique story which expresses the writers’ idea. “The interpretive writer is a discoverer: he takes us to the midst of life and says, look here the world!” (Perrine 4). One of the interpretive writers who give us a meaningful story is Paulo Coelho.

I choose Paulo Coelho because he is one of the authors who writes a lot of great novels and I choose his novel to be analyzed because most of his novels become bestselling books. Paulo Coelho is a famous Brazilian author. Since he published The Alchemist, many readers admire his works. Coelho has sold over 100 million books in over 150 countries (“Biography”).

Among all his works, I choose The Devil and Miss Prym. It is a story about a young woman who has to struggle between good and evil to achieve her happiness. This story is full of conflicts and also the characters try to find the answer about what is the essence of human being. As a result, I become very interested to analyze this novel.

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good and evil and how they solve their inner conflicts in order to reach their true happiness.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The problems are stated as follows:

1. What is the theme of the work entitled The Devil and Miss Prym? 2. How do the inner conflicts help in revealing the theme?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Based on the statement of the problem above, this study is done: 1. To show the theme of the work in The Devil and Miss Prym. 2. To show how do the inner conflicts help in revealing the theme.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

The method of research used in this study is library research. I start my research by reading The Devil and Miss Prym as the primary text. Secondary reading such as Story and Structure, How to Analyze Fiction and Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English are also included in my research. I also read and compile some texts that are taken from the internet.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

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Problems, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is the Analysis of Theme through Inner Conflicts in Paulo’s Coelho The Devil and Miss Prym. The last chapter is the Conclusion. The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, which contain the Synopsis of The Devil and Miss Prym and the Biography of the Paulo Coelho.

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the novel, I am of the opinion that the novel is very exciting to read and to analyze since it is written by Paulo Coelho, who is not only one of the most widely-read authors but also one of the most influential authors today. In The Devil and Miss Prym, he tries to give a real description about the obstacle which is faced by human beings in deciding their paths.

The novel reveals the inner conflicts that are faced by the characters in the story. They struggle to choose between the bad and good sides inside them. To solve their inner conflicts, I can see clearly that they choose to decide what is best for them at that time and based on their free will.

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The stranger is described as a successful businessman and a religious man but he decides to take revenge because of his dead family. He gives the villagers of Viscos a terrible offer. He knows that his offer for the villagers is a bad thing because the villagers must kill an innocent person to fulfil his desire but he chooses to continue his action instead of stopping it.

The priest, who is described to be a very religious man in the village, turns out to take a shocking decision. He has to decide whether to accept the stranger’s offer or not. As a religious man, he knows that the stranger’s offer is a terrible offer because he must kill an innocent person in the village and that action is forbidden by his religion. But instead of following his religious side, he chooses to accept the stranger’s offer and agree to kill an innocent person.

The villagers, who are described as good and trusting people, turn out to take an awful decision. They decide to kill Bertha just to fulfil their dreams although in the end, they choose not to carry on with their decision.

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human being has freedom to choose but he must accept the consequences of his choice”.

The author in this novel is not trying to decide whether humans are bad or good, but he tries to give us a real example about human being's position between good and evil. Human beings are standing in the middle of the two opposite sides and they can choose either. Human beings always suffer from inner conflicts, always live between two options whether to follow their evil or good side. Whatever the answer, it is clear that from the very beginning, the human race has been destined to exist within the eternal division. Humans are always moving between those two opposing poles. Everyone is challenged to prove their courage and willingness to change. When one chooses his attitude towards life, he can affect his surroundings. One can choose to live a guilt-ridden life and always complain about everything or one can live a free-from-guilt life and create his own paradise. It is just a matter of choice.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary text

Coelho, Paulo. The Devil and Miss Prym. New York: Harper Collins, 2000.

References

“Biography”. PauloCoelho. 2009.10 Aug. 2009.

< http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/bio.shtml>

Hornby, As., Cowie, Ap., and Gimson, Ac. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press, 1974.

Perrine, Laurence. Story and Structure. New York: Harcourt and Jovanovich Company, 1959.

Rexroth, Kenney. “The Art of Literature”. Bopsecrets. 2004. 10 Aug. 2009. <http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/essays/literature.htm>

Taormina, Agatha. “Definition of the Novel”. Nvcc. 2005. 10 Aug. 2009. <http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/define.htm>