THE INFLUENCE OF SETTING ON THE THREE DIMENSIONAL ASPECTS OF MAIN CHARACTER IN THE ALCHEMIST
on
ISSN: 2302-920X
E-Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya Unud
Vol 15.1 April 2016: 25-31
THE INFLUENCE OF SETTING ON THE THREE DIMENSIONAL ASPECTS OF MAIN CHARACTER IN THE ALCHEMIST
I Wayan Eka Ariyasa
email: bonjovers@gmail.com
Program Studi Sastra Inggris Fakultas Sastra dan Budaya Universitas Udayana
Abstrak:
Judul penelitian ini adalah The Influence of Setting on the Three Dimensional Aspects Of Main Character In The Alchemist. Studi ini membahas pengaruh latar terhadap tiga aspek dimensional pada karakter utama dalam sebuah novel. Analisis di makalah ini difokuskan pada dua elemen intrinsic dalam suatu karya sastra yaitu karakter dan latar.
Data-data di dalam makalah ini diambil dari sebuah novela berjudul The Alchemist karangan Paulo Coelho (1992) yang diperoleh dengan metode dokumentasi. Ada dua teori yang digunakan untuk menganalisa makalah ini yaitu teori penelaah fiksi, How to Analyze Fiction dari Kenney (1996) dan teori literatur dari Wellek dan Warren (1948). Riset pustaka diterapkan untuk memperoleh informasi yang lengkap terkait makalah ini serta diterapkan pula metode deskriptif.
Analisis di makalah ini ditekankan pada karakter dan latar. Analisis karakter difokuskan pada karakter utama dalam suatu karya sastra beserta tiga aspek dimensionalnya seperti aspek fisiologi, psikologi, dan sosiologi yang dianalisa berdasarkan karakterisasinya. Latar dibagi menjadi dua jenis, latar tempat dan latar waktu dan diikutsertakan dengan analisis pengaruh latar pada tiga aspek dimensional karakter utama dalam fiksi. Analisis menunjukkan bahwa latar memberikan pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap aspek dari karakter utama dalam fiksi. Latar mempengaruhi karakter utama dalam hal ia menghadapi masalah, membuat keputusan dan pandangan-pandangannya terhadap lingkup sekitar.
Kata kunci: Latar, Tiga Aspek Dimensional, Karakter Utama.
It is interesting when dealing with the analysis of setting in a fiction and how it brings influence to other elements such as character. The three dimensional aspects of character are the aspects that build the basic of a character in a story. These aspects constantly change as the story flows along with the plot. The plot itself can as well move setting from one place or time to another. Therefore, as the character undergoes 25
certain phenomenon in accordance to plot in a story, the setting also influences its three dimensional aspects. The Alchemist (1992) by Paulo Coelho was chosen as the data to be analyzed. It tells a story about a young Andalusian boy who worked as a shepherd and carried out a journey in order to reach out for his dream, finding treasure buried beneath the great pyramid in Egypt. The reason of why this novel is selected is because the relation between the settings taking place in the story affecting the three dimensional aspects of the main character, Santiago.
-
a. What are the three dimensional aspects of the main character in The Alchemist?
-
b. How does the setting influence the three dimensional aspects of main character in The Alchemist?
-
a. To identify the three dimensional aspects of the main character in The Alchemist.
-
b. To analyze how setting influences the three dimensional aspects of main character in The Alchemist.
The main data in this research is a novel entitled The Alchemist (1992) written by Paulo Coelho. The data was taken from internet in form of pdf file. This novel was selected since the narrative clearly depicted the distinctive settings in which it was told that the main character migrated from one community to the other community with different social system. The switching settings certainly affected the dimensional aspects of the main character. The switching distinctive
settings were useful for analyzing the three dimensional aspects in each setting in which the main character underwent.
The methods used in this study were library research and documentation method. In the library research, several relevance studies were gathered first to take decision on what topic to take. The documentation method, however, was conducted in order to obtain more evidence and understanding about the collected data through internet searching. The data was read comprehensively, understood and noting all the important information in relation to the topic of the study.
Qualitative method was applied in order to analyze the collected data. The data was identified in accordance to their types, the setting and the character in the novel. The main character was analyzed based on the appearance and significance to the story. The setting was divided into setting of place and setting of time. The result of the analysis was explained descriptively. Then, the analysis was connected to the main character’s three dimensional aspects in descriptive to find the influence.
According to Sudjiman (1992:17), main character is not determined by the frequency of occurrence of the character in the story, but the importance of the character's involvement in the events building up the story. The main character in this story is Santiago, a young boy from Andalusia. He appears almost in all sections of the novel and plays an important role in The Alchemist. The writer
sets the story to be focused on Santiago as the core of the narrative. It is all about his groove adventure from the beginning to the end.
As a shepherd who spent his whole life outside in the open, Santiago wore a jacket in order to withstand and survive from the weather of all season. Wearing a jacket helped him keep warm from the coldness of the wind of Andalusia. Discursive method is applied by the author in this physiological aspect.
The heat lasted until nightfall, and all that time he had to carry his jacket. But when he thought to complain about the burden of its weight, he remembered that, because he had the jacket, he had withstood the cold of the dawn. We have to be prepared for change, he thought, and he was grateful for the jacket's weight and warmth. (Coelho, 1992:2)
Santiago was an ambitious man. Ever since he was a boy, he had wanted to follow his passion, travelling. Thus, he made himself clear to his father to say what he really desired. It was to see all of amazing places in his country and meet various kind of people. In this psychological aspect, the author uses Discursive method.
But ever since he had been a child, he had wanted to know the world, and this was much more important to him than knowing God and learning about man's sins. One afternoon, on a visit to his family, he had summoned up the courage to tell his father that he didn't want to become a priest. That he wanted to travel. (Coelho, 1992:4)
Santiago is a Christian, as the fact that Spain, where he came from, is a country whose people are majorly Christian. Sociologically, Santiago rarely saw the practice of Muslim bowing to their knees and placed their foreheads on the ground. Having arrived in Africa, he felt strange that he thought they all are
infidels as he not knowing the majority of Egyptians are Islam. Dramatic method is applied in revealing this sociological aspect.
"A practice of infidels, " he said to himself. As a child in church, he had always looked at the image of Saint Santiago Matamoros on his white horse, his sword unsheathed, and figures such as these kneeling at his feet. The boy felt ill and terribly alone. The infidels had an evil look about them. (Coelho, 1992:19)
The setting of time is that after eleven months and nine days Santiago living his life in Egypt. He had accustomed to the local tradition as he put the Arabian fashion style into his daily life. The local tradition of wearing Arabian clothes might have affected him to use the same clothes. The illustration of Santiago as the main character wearing a different kind of clothing in a different world proves that the setting in Egypt influence his physiological aspect from the way Santiago wore the jacket to protect his body from the cold wind of Andalusia in Spain.
The boy awoke before dawn. It had been eleven months and nine days since he had first set foot on the African continent. He dressed in his Arabian clothing of white linen, bought especially for this day. He put his headcloth in place and secured it with a ring made of camel skin. Wearing his new sandals, he descended the stairs silently. (Coelho, 1992:32)
The setting of place occurred in the marketplace of Tangier, Egypt and the setting of time is in the night after Santiago was robbed. After being conned by a stranger he just met in the bar, Santiago was alone in the marketplace near the port in the night where he reminisced about when he was still a shepherd back in Andalusia. A feeling of sadness and disappointment surrounded his heart when he woke up on the next morning he realized that he was a stranger in a strange land. The regret made him start blaming God for merely a small obstacle that blocked 29
his way toward his destiny. From this explanation, it can be concluded that this new setting that Santiago was into, psychologically affects his anxiousness for every odd that he newly faces.
When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy. People saw me coming and welcomed me, he thought. But now I'm sad and alone. I'm going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me. I'm going to hate those who have found their treasure because I never found mine. And I'm going to hold on to what little I have, because I'm too insignificant to conquer the world. (Coelho, 1992:22)
In this part of story, the influence of setting on the sociological aspect is almost the same to the influence on the physiological aspect in which both were influenced in the way the main character wore the local clothes, except for the sociological aspect in which the main character’s language is also affected. After eleven months and nine days living his life in Egypt, Santiago had gotten used to following the local tradition and its daily habits. He wore himself a better suit in Arabian clothing, had a local breakfast, and smoked its authentic cigarette, hookah. He was even able to speak Arabian, in spite of the fluency.
The boy awoke before dawn. It had been eleven months and nine days since he had first set foot on the African continent. He dressed in his Arabian clothing of white linen, bought especially for this day. He put his headcloth in place and secured it with a ring made of camel skin. Wearing his new sandals, he descended the stairs silently. The city was still sleeping. He prepared himself a sandwich and drank some hot tea from a crystal glass. Then he sat in the sun-filled doorway, smoking the hookah. (Coelho, 1992:32)
It can be concluded that the physiological aspect of main character is the least aspect shown by the author in the story among the other two aspects. The character of Santiago who is the main character in this story is a dynamic character since his characterizations tend to change from the beginning up to the end of the story. The setting of time is not clearly illustrated by the author, while the setting of place 30
widely took place in two different country, Spain and Egypt. The setting of place mostly took place in Egypt. The setting of place brings significant influence to the three dimensional aspects of main character since the two different countries where the main character holds his life possess distinct kind of culture and custom in which the main character must suit himself to his surrounding in order to survive and live his dream.
The main character’s physiological aspect is the least dimensional aspect that is influenced by the setting, since the author only describes a small portion of the physiological aspect of main character. The other two aspects of main character, the psychological and sociological aspect, were significantly influenced by the setting, in which it affects the development of the main character’s aspects to its surroundings. The influence of setting to psychological and sociological aspect affecting the main character mostly occur when the setting took place in Egypt where the main character suffers in his emotion and his perspective of his surrounding, aside of his purpose to find his treasure.
References
Abrams, M.H., 1981. A Glossary of Literary Terms, New York, Cornell University.
Coelho, Paulo., 1992. The Alchemist. Available from http://www.shipk12.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/08/Paulo_Coelho_-_The_Alchemist.pdf Accessed: July 18, 2014
Diyanni, Robert., 2001. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama, Singapore, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.
Kenney, William., 1966. How to Analyze Fiction, New York, Monarch Press.
Sukada, I Made., 1987. Beberapa Aspek Tentang Sastra, Denpasar, Kayu Mas.
Wellek, Rene. & Austin Warren., 1948. The Theory of Literature, London, Cox and
Wyman Ltd.
31
Discussion and feedback