THREE DIMENSIONS IN THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FRANCESCA THAYER AS THE MAIN CHARACTER IN STEEL’S 44 CHARLES STREET
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THREE DIMENSIONS IN THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FRANCESCA
THAYER AS THE MAIN CHARACTER IN STEEL’S 44 CHARLES
STREET
Tri Murtianingsih
Jurusan Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra Unud
Abstrak:
Penelitian ini berjudul " Tiga Dimensi Dalam Karakterisasi Francesca Thayer Sebagai Tokoh Utama Dalam Novel Karya Steel yang berjudul 44 Charles Street " . Penelitian ini berkaitan dengan metode karakterisasi berdasarkan tiga dimensi dari tokoh utama dan unsur-unsur intrinsik lainnya dalam novel . Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana penulis menyajikan tokoh utama dalam tiga dimensi yang terdiri dari dimensi fisik , dimensi sosial , dan dimensi kejiwaan . Sumber data penelitian ini adalah novel yang berjudul 44 Charles Street oleh Danielle Steel ( 2011) . Penelitian ini didasarkan pada penelitian kepustakaan dan metode dokumentasi yang digunakan dalam pengumpulan data . Kemudian , data yang terkumpul dianalisis secara deskriptif dengan menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif . Beberapa teori karakterisasi yang digunakan seperti Teori Karakterisasi oleh Kenney (1966 ) , teori Dimensi Karakter oleh Egri ( 1960) .
Kata Kunci : Tiga aspek dimensi , metoda karakteristik dan tokoh utama.
Novel as a literary work was choosen to be analyzed in this study because reading novel has much benefit for the reader. Curiosity will be felt by the reader about the author’s depiction in expressing imagination that makes the reader drift into the story. There are a lot of things which can be analyzed intrinsically and extrinsically in a novel. Intrinsically, the analysis can include various points of study such as: theme, setting, character, plot, and point of view, while extrinsically it can include social and cultural status, moral values, someone’s experience with life and language, author biography, etc.
Character as a part of intrinsic elements is one of important aspects because it carries the author’s message that can bring various values in human life such as morality, education, and many others. In order to understand the character’s attitude and behavior, it is important to understand physiology, psychology, and sociology aspect of the character itself.
The analysis of the main character is one of the important aspects of fiction and through character the author’s thought is expressed. The story is not complete without character and from the analysis of the character. The various kinds of character and the three dimensions could be analyzed from the story and sometimes be seen in real life.
Based upon the above explanation, the problem under observation are :
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1. What type of character is the main character in Steel’s 44 Charles Street?
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2. What method of characterization is used by the author to describe the main character in Steel’s 44 Charles Street ?
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3. How is the main character in Steel’s 44 Charles Street described in terms of three dimensions ?
Generally, the aim of this writing is to widen the readers’ knowledge about literature, especially about the method of characterization and three dimension aspects which are shown through the characters. Specifically, the aims of this writing are to answer the problems that are mentioned above, as follows:
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1. To find the type of character is the main character in Steel’s 44 Charles Street.
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2. To identify the method of characterization used by the author to describe the main character in Steel’s 44 Charles Street.
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3. To investigate how the main character is described in terms of three dimensions.
The methodology used in doing this research is divided into three points namely data source, method and technique of collecting data, and also method and techniques of analyzing data.
This study focused on the method of characterization and three dimensions of the main character in the novel entitled 44 Charles Street written by Steel (2011). The novel was published by Delacorte Press in United States.
This study used library research to collect the data by note taking. The working procedure was divided into several steps. The first step was reading the novel repeatedly and intensively to understand the content of the novel. Then, the second step was reading the theory book and browsing to the internet, in order to get more information that are relevant to the topic.
The data in this study were analyzed using qualitative method. The data were presented descriptively according to the theories adopted in order to make it easier for the readers to understand the analysis. The potential, important, and promising data were identified by highlighting the related sentences. The next step was reducing the data in order to get the valid one. After that the data were classified based on the theory of literature (character and characterization) by Kenney (1966) in his book “How to Analyzed Fiction”. After finding the method of characterization in the story, it was analyzed further using the theory proposed by Lajos Egri (in Sukada) “Beberapa Aspek Tentang Sastra” (1987) in order to find out the three dimensions.
In explaining the type of the main character in the story, Francesca Thayer doesnotonly embodies a single attitude. She is known as a very private person but sometimes she solves her problems by asking for advise from her relatives who she trusts and at some point she changes her mind due to the advise. Therefore, the type of the main character in the story is categorized into the round
charactertype as Francesca is described as a person who changes from a private person to a social person. This is proven by the following quotes:
Data 1
And Henry had said as much himself, but didn’t want to pry and intrude on his daughter, who was always extremely private. ‘She’ll tell us when she is ready, if something’s going on,’ he had commented to Avery, who agreed with him.(Stell, 2011:25)
Data 2
By Seven o’clock Sunday night, she was still alone. It made her realize what a blessing it was to have them there. She would have been miserable in the house on her own, with no one to talk to, and no sign of life. (Steel, 2011:127)
In defining the type of the main character in the story the quotes above are presented based on the following methods: character on other character method and dramatic method. In Data 1, the comments of Francesca’s father shows the reader that Francesca is a private person and he notices that if something has happened to her ( if she wants to share ), she will share this with him. But later, after all the problems with Todd occurred, it turned out that Francesca could not handle it by herself. Finally she makes the decision to take in roommates to help her meet the house mortgage payment.
In Data 2, the author tries to tell the reader that Francesca has changed from a private person to a social person. When it was a holiday, her roommates went on holiday by themselves and Francesca started to miss them when they were all gone. It made Francesca realize that being so private was not good enough and by having them (her roommates) in her house she felt that her life turned into a meaningful one, they care about each other and became a whole new family.
Physiological Dimension of a character is observed through sex, age, physical appearance which are body shape, whether or not a person is beautiful or handsome, color of skin and hair.
In the beginning of the story, the author tells the reader about the failed relationship of Francescaand Todd. Francesca is described to admit that the relationship with Todd just did not work. She is an ordinary 35 year old woman who comes up with some problems caused by the failed relationship with Todd in the beginning of the story. It is proven by the following quote:
Data 3
The worst of it was that their relationship was over now too. They had been together for five years. Francesca had just turned thirty when she met him, and Todd was thirty five. (Steel, 2011:11)
The author presents the main character through the dramatic method. Steel allow the reader’s imagination to figure out the main character’s age by giving the clue in the beginning of the paragaph that Francesca had just turn thirty when she met Todd and they had been together for five years. Therefore it can be concluded that the age of Francesca is 35 years old.
Human being is a social creature. Social is the term which has a lot of interpretation. In literature, social dimension can be seen from the character social status, level of education, religion and beliefs, financial condition, etc.
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a. Bohemian Lifestyle
She never wants to get married while Todd has the opinion that marriage will make sense one day. Todd has triedaBohemian Lifestyle with Francesca as shown in the quote below through the character on character method.
Data 11
He told her he was tired of their bohemian lifestyle where people lived together and thought it was fine to have kids without getting married.
As soon as Todd blew out the candles on his fortieth birthday cake, it was as if a switch were turn on, and without any warning, he turned traditional on her. (Steel, 2011:13)
Francesca’s parents were divorced when she was six. She had also watched her extremely handsome and charming father drift in and out of relationships that never lasted in his life for more than six months. That, combined with her mother’s fetish for marriage hascreated a commitment phobic in Francesca.
There are some qualities of Francesca Thayer described by the author of this novel, which can be presented in several terms as shown in the following quote.
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a. Ambivert Personality
Francesca first described as a private woman who likes to do work as much as she can, and do home activities rather than socializing. She does not have many friends, her friends were Todd’s friends as well. She is only interacting with her parents and spends her time with reading novels, some poetry or watching TV. As the following quote shows through the character on other character method and dramatic method:
Data 24
‘I can’t see you living with strangers,’ Avery said honestly. She knew her stepdaughter was an extremely private person, and as an only child she had always been something of a loner. But if she was willing to take in roommates, it would certainly help. It told Avery just how determined she was to keep the house, knowing that having roommates in her home would be a big sacrifice for her. (Steel, 2011:26-27)
Data 25
She lay on her bed on Friday night, grateful that she had to work only one more day, and was thinking about spending Sunday in bed with a good book. There was nothing she wanted to do, and no one she wanted to see, and most unusually, that weekend, she knew that all of her tenants would be gone. (Steel, 2011:126)
Francesca is depicted to avoid social interaction with other people in the beginning of the story. Later she describes that she only has few friends who were actually Todd’s friends and both her parents. Nonetheless, after she meets Eileen, Chris, and Marya, her roommates who brought the light into her life, her life experienced a progression. Francesca can be categorized as an ambivert person. She has an ambivert personality which is a mix of two contradictive personality; introvert (anti-social) and extrovert (social).
It can be concluded from the analysis in the previous chapter that the main character of the story belongs to a complex/round type because the reader can see all aspects of her through her point of view, which shows obviously the development of her minds and feelings. The method of characterization that is used by the author is the mixing method, which include the dramatic method in which the character reveal herselves through their words and actions, character on the character method in which the personality of the main character was presented by other characters in the story, discursive method in which the author simply describes the character in the story and contextual method in which the author describes the character by the context of situation and the environtment in the story. From the three dimensions under concern we can conclude that Francesca is a simple beautiful woman who has an ambivert personality which is a mixture of two opposite traits (introvert and extrovert tendencies).
The result of this study shows that there is a relation between the characterization method and the three dimensions under concern. The relation itself also has an impact to the character’s personality.
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