Portrayal of The Protagonist in Paulo Coelho's 'By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept'.

(1)

iii Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Di dalam Tugas Akhir ini, saya menganalisis karakteristik tokoh utama dalam novel yang berjudul By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept karangan Paulo Coelho.

Pilar, tokoh utama dalam novel ini, digambarkan sebagai perempuan yang biasa merencanakan segala sesuatu yang akan dia lakukan dan dia juga mempunyai pola pikir yang konvensional atau mengikuti apa yang orang banyak lakukan.

Namun, kemudian Pilar mengalami perubahan sifat saat teman masa kecilnya memperkenalkan 'the Other' kepada Pilar. 'The Other' adalah pribadi yang mengingatkan seseorang untuk tidak mengambil tindakan yang beresiko dalam hidupnya. Setelah Pilar mengerti bahwa 'the Other' menghambat hidupnya, dia menjadi perempuan yang spontan dan modern. Dia tidak lagi mengikuti kebiasaan-kebiasaan yang orang lain lakukan, tetapi apa yang dia inginkan.

Saya juga menganalisis tujuan Paulo Coelho dalam menciptakan tokoh Pilar. Saya berkesimpulan bahwa seseorang perlu berserah untuk menemukan cinta sejatinya. Seseorang tidak dapat menemukan cinta sejatinya apabila dia tidak

(2)

ii Maranatha Christian University

APPENDICES

SYNOPSIS OF BY THE RIVER PIEDRA I SAT DOWN AND WEPT

Pilar is a young girl who lives in Soria. Pilar cannot forget her childhood friend though it is some years since he has gone to another city. Still, they keep in touch with each other through letters and postcards. Pilar moves to Zaragoza to have a better life, so she thinks, while her friend travels around to give lectures.

After some time, her childhood friend writes a letter to Pilar to come to his seminar in Madrid, and Pilar decides to come. He is the speaker in the seminar. After the seminar, he asks Pilar to spend time with him on a seven-day trip. At first, Pilar resists him, but in the end, she decides to forget her life in Zaragoza and follow him. They travel to many places together.

Pilar's childhood friend teaches her about religious matters, and she undergoes a spiritual experience. Through him, Pilar's faith returns. He also talks about the feminine side of God, that is, love. Pilar thinks that love can never be a

barrier to follow one’s heart and destiny. She has always dreamed of living

(4)

An old woman tells Pilar that there is a legend that in the River Piedra, anything that falls into the water of this river is transformed into the rocks that make the riverbed. Here, Pilar starts to write her story, so that she can turn all her suffering into stone. In the end, her childhood friend finds Pilar by the River Piedra after looking for her everywhere and after reading what Pilar has written, they decide to begin their new life together.

BIOGRAPHY OF PAULO COELHO

Paulo Coelho was born in 1947, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he was also raised. As a teenager, Paulo was an introvert and his parents had him committed to a mental institution when he was seventeen until he was twenty years old.

Paulo found work as a songwriter. In 1974, at age 27, he was arrested by the government for subversive activity – the people in power found his song lyrics dangerous. He continued his career in the entertainment field, working as an actor, a journalist, and even directing some theatre. He started to write as well, and his first book, Hell Archives, was published in 1982, when he was 35.

In 1986, at age 40, Paulo walked along the Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a 500-mile distance. He experienced a spiritual awakening on this journey, which he described in his book The

Pilgrimage, published in 1986. In 1987, his book The Alchemist was published. In

(5)

26 books to date. Other of his titles includes By the River Piedra I Sat Down and

Wept, Veronika Decides to Die.

In 1996, Paulo, the best-selling author in the Portuguese language, founded the Paulo Coelho Institute in order to provide aid to children and the elderly. In September 2007, Paulo was named a Messenger of Peace to the United Nations.

(6)

1 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian author. Before he turned to be a novelist, he used to work as a film director, actor, lyricist and journalist ("Goodreads"). These experiences make him a good novelist, and the words in his novels are very well chosen. His favorite style of writing is poetic prose; he also frequently uses philosophically meaningful words and symbolism (Hassapi) in his works. The language in his novels is also easily understood and that is why the novels are very well liked.

According to Trilling, “the novel is perpetual quest for reality, the field of

its research being always the social world, the material of its analysis being always manners as the indication of the direction of man's soul” (qtd. in Trilling: 77). I believe Coelho’s works present social life through the characters he has created. The characteristics of his characters usually represent real people’s manners, and therefore, as the readers, we can learn about people’s reactions in

(7)

2 Maranatha Christian University His best-known work, The Alchemist, has been translated into 67 languages and has sold more than 65 million copies (Coelho). The Alchemist has been edited in more than 150 countries and Eleven Minutes had the highest number of books sold worldwide and became the top of all popular booklists in the world ("Biography").

For my thesis, I choose to analyze one of Coelho’s novels, entitled By The

River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept. It is very interesting when I read this love

story and how the main character struggles to fight her fear. This is a story that tells about a journey in search of self-identity, wrapped inside a beautiful love story which embodies a message that “true love is an act of total surrender”

(Hassapi). On a deeper level, Coelho gives “the message that as there are no rules when it comes to love, there are no rules when it comes to worshiping God.” (Hassapi). This novel is said to be “. . . exquisitely written, the language direct, quotable, imaginative and at times, numinous” (Waples) and the story “. . . teaches us to break down rules, to stop asking questions, to stop looking for explanations and to just give freedom to the spirit inside of us. Let the spirit guide us to our paths, to our calling and have complete faith in a higher authority” (Neeraja).

I am interested in analyzing the protagonist in the novel. Protagonist is “the main character in a story, novel, drama, or either literary work, the character

that the reader or audience empathizes with” (Wiehardt). In addition, according to Gass, “a character, first of all, is the noise of his name, and all the sounds and

(8)

3 Maranatha Christian University According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, pillar means “a large round stone, metal or wooden post that is used to support a bridge, the roof of a building” ("Pillar."). This is the quality that Pilar has in this novel. The word also

implies the quality of being strong and firm. Thus, in my analysis, I am going to discuss the changes of Pilar’s characteristics in the circumstances she faces and

how her experiences help change those characteristics.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The statements of the problem in my thesis are: 1. How is the protagonist portrayed in the novel?

2. What is the purpose of the author in creating such a protagonist?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purposes of the study in my major thesis are:

1. To analyze how the protagonist is portrayed in the novel.

2. To show the purpose of the author in creating such a protagonist.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

(9)

4 Maranatha Christian University ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which consists of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two consists of the analysis of the portrayal of the protagonist in By the

River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept. Chapter Three is the Conclusion. At the end

(10)

CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the portrayal of the protagonist in By the River Piedra I

Sat Down and Wept, in this chapter I would like to draw some conclusions. The

novel is a story of a woman around twenty years of age, named Pilar, who is accustomed to think of everything in a good order. As a premeditated woman. Pilar never does anything based on an impulse or based on her feelings. As a result, Pilar does not allow herself to fall in love with her childhood friend because Pilar thinks to fall in love means to lose control, and she does not want that to happen. This habit also makes Pilar become a conventional woman. She feels awkward if she is around people whom she does not know. Moreover, Pilar prefers to choose a settled marriage life with a husband who is easy to find and who has a secure job. She will not decide anything that is too risky. She is willing to let her love lead her to something secure.

(11)

19 Maranatha Christian University Other away from her life, and this soon changes her view about life. The Other is a term used in this novel to describe an inner voice within every human being that warns us that life is too risky.

Thus, Pilar becomes a spontaneous woman. Now she enjoys her new self and is glad that she does not have to be in control anymore. She begins to use her feelings. She no longer feels awkward but can now enjoy having new people around her. She allows herself to fall in love with her childhood friend and she decides to find out more about his life. She feels free now and she has wonderful experiences that she will not forget to tell others about. Her spontaneous acts makes Pilar become an unconventional woman. She decides to accept the reality that her childhood friend does not have a secure job. She is willing to take a risk with that. She does not want a flat life. She breaks open the wall of fear. Pilar decides to be who she really is. She is willing to fight for her love.

(12)

20 Maranatha Christian University For me, the story Coelho writes is alive and real especially his idea about 'the Other'. I believe that everyone has 'the Other' in their life, whether they realize it or not. Many are comfortable living with 'the Other'. They want to become just like 'the Other' tells them. In my opinion, 'the Other' comes from a person's mind. People often base their decision on logical thinking instead of on their heart, for example, when they make a decision about their spouse. Deciding to live with someone else is a hard thing to do. If the relationship they build fails in the end, they usually hurt each other, and this is what people are afraid of. They are afraid of taking risks in life. The bigger the consequences, the more they depend on 'the Other'. This does not mean that living according to 'the Other' is not good. It is good to hear 'the Other' because it is a secure life, but more than that, it is better for people to listen to what their own heart says. Consequently, people have two choices in their life: to choose 'the Other' or to live according to their own heart or will. 'The other' does not only talk about relationships, but about other things in life as well. That is why the story is so real, because it also happens in real life.

(13)

(14)

BIBILIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts

Coelho, Paulo. By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept. New York: HarperTorch. 2004. Print.

References

“Biography.” Paulocoelho.com. 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2009.

Gass, William H. The Concepts of Character in Fiction. Ed. Michael J. Hoffman and Patrick D. Murphy. London: Leicester University Press, 1996. Print.

“Goodreads.” Goodread.com. 2011. Web. 2 Dec 2009.

Hassapi, Anna. “Book Reviews.” Nabou.com. 2005. Web. 8 March 2011. "Conventional." Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2005. 335. Print.

"Planner." Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 1151. Print.

"Pillar." Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 1141. Print.

"Spontaneous." Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 1479. Print.

(15)

23 Maranatha Christian University Kousar, Kadri. “Paulo Coelho’s Magic.” Egothemag.com. 2005. Web. 30 Nov

2009.

Neeraja. “Reflection: By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept.”

pastel-moods.blogspot.com. 2009. Web. 6 Nov 2009.

“Paulo Coelho Biography.” ascensiongateaway.Web. 25 Feb 2011.

Trilling, Lionel. Manners, Morals, and the Novel. Ed. Michael J Hoffman and Patrick D. Murphy. London: Leicester University Press, 1996. Print.

Waples, Jan. “The Goddes, Liberation, and Love in By The River Pierre.”

journal.oates.org. 2009. Web. 6 Nov 2009.