The Portrayal of The Protagonist in Thomas Harris 'The Silence of The Lambs'.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam novel The Silence Of The Lambs karya Thomas Harris, tokoh

utama yang bernama Clarice Starling merupakan seorang siswa magang dalam

kesatuan Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) bagian divisi Behavioral Science. Ia

bertugas menangkap seorang pembunuh berantai. Penggambaran karakteristik

Starling sedemikian detail sehingga setiap pembaca dapat melihat bahwa selama

dalam proses pengejaran dan penangkapan pembunuh, Starling harus melalui

berbagai hal. Pada intinya, dia harus membuka luka lamanya. Namun, terlepas

dari itu semua, kita dapat melihat proses perubahan Starling dari seseorang yang

traumatis oleh karena luka lamanya menjadi seseorang yang berani menghadapi

kenyataan dan lepas dari traumanya. Starling pada dasarnya memiliki beberapa

karakteristik yang sebenarnya dapat ia pakai menghadapi traumanya. Namun,

pengaruh dari Dr. Lecter membuat Starling menyadari bahwa kemampuan

tersebut selama ini tersembunyi di dalam ketakutannya. Dalam hal ini terdapat

tiga karakteristik yang ia miliki yaitu kegigihan, kepintaran, dan ketidaksabaran.

Di satu sisi, ketidaksabaran merupakan karakteristik yang buruk, namun Starling

memanfaatkan ketidaksabaran tersebut guna segera mencapai tujuan akhir yakni

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APPENDICES

SYNOPSIS OF THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

The story begins when Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, being asked

to carry an errand, by agent Jack Crawford, the head section of Behavioral

Science in FBI to visit Dr. Hannibal Lecter to get information on Buffalo Bill

a.k.a. Jame Gumb, a brilliant serial killer who wants to make a human-skin jacket

throughout women’s skins. He is deeply disturbed and unable to overcome the

death of his mother; he wants to be like his mother and feels that he should not be

in a man’s body but in a woman’s. For that reason he could be like a woman, and

less like a man.

Starling had to swap information with Dr. Lecter about her personal life,

and her biggest fear to get information about Buffalo Bill. Crawford has already

told Starling never to give personal information to Lecter, because he could use it

as his own psychological weapon.

In the end of the story, she gets caught in the fight for her life. Starling is

in modus of self-defense and manages to kill Buffalo Bill, but somehow she felt

that she should thanks Dr. Lecter because he wasn’t just giving her the hints on

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21 BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

Thomas Harris was born in 1940, Jackson, Tennessee, United States of

America. At a very young age, he had to move with all of his family back to his

father’s hometown of Rich, Mississippi. He lived and school there until he went to

Waco, Texas to continue his study at Baylor University. From there he took

English major and also worked part-time as a reporter at the News Tribune at

night.

Harris’ love life is not as good as his works. He met a fellow student, Harriet, married her, had one child, Anna, and in the end they got divorced in the

1960’s.

Harris’ career point started after his divorce. He started sending macabre stories to magazines like True and Argosy. He graduated at 1964 and took a brief

period of time travelling Europe before finally working as a general-assignment

reporter for the Associated Press in 1968 – 1974.

Since his career time as a reporter, especially in the criminal world and

his great attention to detail, he started to write his first novel, Black Sunday

(1975), Red Dragon (1981), Silence of the Lambs (1988), Hannibal (1999), and

Hannibal Rising (2006). With these novels, the name of Thomas Harris is

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Thomas Harris, the creator of the suspense novel entitled The Silence of

the Lambs, is known as one of the best suspense writers in the world. He succeeds

in creating spectacular works and makes it adaptable into a widescreen movie. In

his works, “…Harris places his clues and his carnage with precision” (Internet

Book List). The Silence of the Lambs can be considered as a detailed suspense

story. It is believed that all of Harris’ knowledge and skills that he earned from his

previous job as a reporter makes him succeed in entering the world of writings.

The Silence of the Lambs, one of Harris’ novels that receives positive

responses from the critics, is claimed as “one of the most gripping reads of the

year"(Internet Book List). In the story, Harris creates a protagonist, Clarice

Starling, who also appears on Harris’ other novel entitled Hannibal. The reason

why I choose to analyze Starling, the protagonist, in The Silence of the Lambs is

because in this book, the characterization of the protagonist is well-described by

the author. Harris gives the reader a closer look of what kind of mental strength

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2 Maranatha Christian University freedom from her nightmare, which is actually the trauma of her past childhood.

In the end, her uncommon relationship with Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter,

who helps her solve the case and releases her from her nightmare, makes her

become braver than she was before.

The portrayal of the protagonist, in this case is Starling, is the one that I

want to analyze thoroughly. It is because of the progress of the characterization

that she has makes her be classified as a round and dynamic character. By

definition, a round character means a complex literary character with fully developed and dynamic traits. complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader. While dynamic character means a character that undergoes a permanent change in outlook or character during the story. It also conveys what the author wants to say by creating such portrayal of the protagonist in the novel.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. How is the protagonist portrayed in Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs?

2. What is the purpose of the author in portraying such protagonist in the

To elaborate the writer’s analysis of The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas

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3 Maranatha Christian University entries that will be useful in the analysis. The writer also includes the use of the

Internet sources to help the writer find the materials that the writer needed.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

The thesis consists of three chapters preceded by Acknowledgements,

Table of Content, and Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, consisting

Background of The Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of The Study,

Method of Research, Organization of The Thesis. Chapter Two is the Analysis of

the Portrayal of the Protagonist in Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs.

Chapter Three is the Conclusion and the last is Bibliography, and the Appendix,

which contains the Synopsis of The Silence of the Lambs, and Biography of

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I will review the portrayal of the protagonist in the novel

and draw some conclusion. I find that Clarice Starling as the protagonist has

characteristics which affect all of her actions that she does and also the outcome

of her problem. She is a persistent woman. Her persistency helps her when

everybody would probably give up. She uses it to give her strength, and do not

stop until she solves the problem. For example, when Starling is decide to try with

everything she has to save Catherine Martin even though everything that she has

done is ruined, and Starling was on the edge of getting recycled for her study.

Then Clarice is also portrayed so intelligently that her colleagues not only

acknowledge it but also proves it by using her intelligence in solving the case and saves Catherine Martin from becoming Jame Gumb’s victims. Starling proves it

when she is trying to find Jame Gumb’s motive in one of his victims. She sees

that there are quite clear patterns for her to see, especially when she finds out from

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16 Maranatha Christian University usually does. His motive is finally revealed when Starling finds out that Jame

Gumb is a skilled sewer and a transvestite.

Impatience is one of Starling’s characteristics that do not change from the

beginning. Her impatience is seen as the negative characteristics, yet it helps her

in the progress of the characterization that she makes. For many times that she

looks impatient, especially when she finds a clue that can lead her to find the

killer. Yet in other perspective, we see that this negative characteristic is the one

that makes her always conscious and alert all the time. Being impatient

unconsciously helps her finish the tasks assigned to her and her life problem as

soon as possible, in which means she needs to rescue Catherine Martin before

Jame Gumb kills her.

Afterwards, Harris portrays Starling as a traumatic person. She is

traumatized by the incident of her father’s death. This characteristic is very crucial in the progress of the story. Starling’s traumatic experience is the barrier that

holds her back from doing anything that she can accomplish in her life.

The purpose of the author in this story is to tell us especially as the readers

that we need to introspect ourselves and find our weaknesses, afterward accept it,

deal with it and in the end win over it. The author realizes that it is not easy to

deal with something if one is afraid of it. Yet, the author also conveys that one should determine one’s own fate and realize that actually we already have what it

takes to deal our trauma. Since everyone’s trauma cannot be the same and everyone’s characteristics are different, we just need to realize it and knows how

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17 Maranatha Christian University Besides that, I also find a unique fact that the author portrays Starling, as

the female major character, lives in a world with male-domination where woman

are seen as the weak and undependable. Nowadays, gender discrimination still

exists in the society. That is the reason why it is hard for a woman to survive in a

male dominated world. And yet, in the story even the weak one, as long as they

try hard to achieve something, they can reach their goals in life and everything.

Once again the author proves that anyone can make a difference as long as one

tries hard and uses our intelligence.

I see that such character as Clarice Starling also can be seen in our real life

because some people in the real life have experienced trauma. A trauma is not

something new to every human. I am sure we all have experienced a traumatic

experience. And yet, it is up to us to decide whether the trauma will last forever. It

can be a part of our lives which can makes us stronger or destroy us. In Starling’s

case, is all about losing someone that we love. Starling has experienced how her

father died, and how her mother left her, but she still managed to fight back and

released herself. For some people these experiences can be such devastating for

their lives. The fear of losing your loved ones is something that can be seen as a

trauma just like what Starling has had. It only has one solution, for we should face

what we are afraid of bravely, intelligently, and persistently until we win.

Based on the reasons above, I conclude that Thomas Harris is successful in

portraying the protagonist. The story becomes relevant and exciting to read,

because Starling was portrayed in such a way that the reader can understand how

she feels, what she thinks, and the most important thing give us some lessons of

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18 Maranatha Christian University surprising that The Silence of the Lambs becomes one of the best novels of the

century, especially in its genre, thriller novel. Starling can bring us the suspense in

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Bibliography

Primary text:

Harris, Thomas. The Silence of the Lambs. London: Arrow Books, 1999.

Reference:

The Mississippi Writers Page. 2008. 5 Jan. 2008

< http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/harris_thomas/index.html>

Wikipedia.com. 2008. 5 Jan. 2008

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silence_of_the_Lambs_%28novel%29>

The Official Website Thomas Harris. 2009. 5 Jan.2009.

<http://www.randomhouse.com/features/thomasharris>

Mississippi Writers and Musician. Jacobs, Nancy. 2009. 3 Sept. 2009

<http://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/writers/thomas-harris.html>

Wow Essays. 2008. 5 Jan. 2008