Three Dimensions of Jean Louise As The Main Character in Lee’s Novel Go Set A Watchman
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ISSN: 2302-920X
Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud
Vol 20.1 Agustus 2017: 117-123
Three Dimensions of Jean Louise As The Main Character in Lee’s Novel Go Set A Watchman
Efraim Aero1*, I Gusti Ayu Gde Sosiowati2
[123]English Department Faculty of Arts – Udayana University 1[[email protected]] 2[[email protected]]
*
Corresponding Author
Abstrak
Penelitian ini berjudul “Tiga Dimensi Jean Louise Sebagai Tokoh Utama Dalam Novel Go Set a Watchman Karya Lee”. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memahami karakterisasi Jean Louise dari dimensi fisik, sosial, dan psikologi serta memahami alasan mengapa Jean Louise gagal sebagai tokoh reformasi. Sumber penelitian ini di ambil dari novel karya Lee yang berjudul Go Set a Watchman. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kepustakaan, yang menggunakan metode dokumentasi dengan menggunakan teknik mencatat. Teori yang digunakan untuk menganalisa adalah Teori Dimensi Karakter oleh Egri (1966) dan teori Karakterisasi oleh Kenney (1960).
Kata kunci: tiga dimensi karakter, metode penokohan.
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1. Background of the Study phenomenal character from a novel
Literature refers to entirety of written expression, with the restriction that not every written document can be categorized as a literature (Klarer 2004:1). Novel has the ability to develop critical thinking skill, and helps people empathize with others through the characters and characterization in the story. Character is the most important element in a novel. The character could teach people some moral lessons and the value of life.
This study focuses on the main character named Jean Louise, a
entitled Go Set a Watchman, written by Lee. She is a reformist who stands up for races equality in Maycomb County. Viewing Jean Louise character and characterization are important, because its makes the character fully represented. The analysis of Jean Louise could be used as a study to show that a character is really a reflection of human figure. It is also important to know the method of characterization used by the author to describe Jean Louise.
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a. How is the figure of the main character shaped in terms of the physiological, sociological
and psychological aspects in
Lee’s novel Go Set a
Watchman?
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b. What is the method of
characterization used by the
author to describe the main
character in the novel Go Set a
Watchman?
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c. What is the reason of the main
character named Jean Louise described as a failed reformist in Lee’s novel Go Set a
Watchman?
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a. To describe the physiologal,
sociologal and psychological
aspects of Jean Louise in
Lee’s novel Go Set a
Watchman.
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b. To find out the methods of characterization used by the author to describe Jean Louise in Lee’s novel Go Set a Watchman.
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c. To find out the reasons why Jean Louise is described as a failed reformist.
The data of this study were taken from the international bestselling novel Go Set a Watchman, written by Lee and published by Arrows Book. The method used for this study was documentary method. The data for this study were collected through several steps. Firstly, the data were read repeatedly and carefully in order to understand the content of the novel. Secondly, the data were identified and selected in order to find Jean Louise traits, characterization and the reasons why she failed as a reformist. The process was followed by note taking the data related to the study. The data of this study were analysed through the qualitative method. The data were analysed based on two major theories, namely the three-dimensional theory proposed by Egri as stated in The Art of Dramatic Writing (1960), and characterization theory proposed by Kenney taken from his book entitled How to Analyze Fiction (1966).
The analysis of the character in Go Set a Watchman is focused on the main character, Jean Louise. There is no
doubt that Jean Louise is the center of the story, because she takes the most part of the story, and like a gravity everything in the story always comes back to her, always related to her existence. Viewing Jean Louise from three-dimensions is important because it makes the character fully represented. Jean Louise has three dimensions as a character, namely her physiology, sociology and psychology.
Physical flaw is considered an element in physical dimension. Jean Louise has an eye defect which makes her vision imperfect. It is proven by the following quote :
Data 7
She may have discovered that all her life she had been with a visual defect which had gone unnoticed and neglected by her-self and by those closest to her: she was born color blind. (Lee, 2015: 122)
Color-blind is a disease which makes someone unable to see the difference among some colors,
especially red and green. Jean Louise has an eye defect which makes her vision imperfect. The eyes defect also has affected her sociological and psychological dimensions. It also affects her attitude as a reformist, she learns that colours are meaningless.
The sociological dimension is reflected through the character’s education. Jean Louise is the lucky one, she comes from a family that can afford education tuitions for her. Jean Louise’s level of education can be seen as the quotation below:
Data 10
She was now twelve and in the seventh grade. Her capacity to savor the change from grammar school was limited; she did not revel in going to different classrooms during the day and being taught by different teachers, nor in knowing that she had a hero for a brother somewhere in the
remote senior school. (Lee, 2015: 134)
Data 11
Atticus sent her to a womenʼs college in Georgia; when she finished, he said it was high time she started shifting for herself and why didnʼt she go to New York or somewhere. (Lee, 2015: 117)
Jean Louise is described as an educated woman. She attended grammar school, a school for kid around age eleven to eighteen and then continued to higher level of education. Her father, then sent Jean Louise to the women’s university in Georgia. Jean Louise’s education background helped her get a job in New York.
The analysis on the
psychological dimension of Jean Louie is focused on several aspects of the character’s attitude. Jean Louise is a reformist who wants race equality happening in
Maycomb. Her ambitions to make Maycomb a better place for the Negroes make her deserved to be titled as a heroine.
Data 41
“Have you ever considered that you can’t have a set of backward people living among people advanced in one kind of civilization and have a social arcadia?
“Of course, I know that, but I heard something once. I heard a slogan and it stuck in my head. I heard ʻEqual rights for all; special privileges for none,’ and to me it didn’t mean anything but what it said. It didnʼt mean one card off the top of the stack for the white man and one off the bottom for the Negro, it— (Lee, 2015: 242)
Jean Louise is completely understood that people cannot have social arcadia, but it does not mean that the Negroes and the white races cannot live in equality. Jean Louise states that equality is for everybody, not only for the white. She does believe that people can live in peace
no matter what their skin colors are. Jean Louise does not want the whites to get special treatments even though Jean Louise is physically described as a white woman, she still believes in equality and defends the black races.
Kenney in his book How to Analyse Fiction (1966) divided the characterization methods into five, namely discursive, dramatic, character on character, contextual and mixed method. The author of Go Set a Watchman uses the mixed method to present Jean Louise’s characterization. The analysis of the mixed methods can be described as follows:
Discursive method is a method used by a writer to tell the reader about a character, the writer sometimes mentions the writer’s opinion, disapproval or approval of the character. The following examples are related to discursive method:
Data 54
Jean Louise had never known her mother, and she never knew what a mother was, but she rarely felt the need of one. (Lee, 2015: 103)
The writer tells the reader that
Jean Louise does not know her mother and rarely needs her. The data are presented through the discursive method.
Dramatic method is a method which the writer uses to shape the characters by showing themselves through their own words and action.
Data 57
Iʼm thoughtless, all right. Selfish, self-willed, I eat too much, and I feel like the Book of Common Prayer. Lord forgive me for not doing what I should have done and for doing what I shouldn’t have done—oh hell. (Lee, 2015:77)
The pronoun “I” refers to Jean
Louise. She reveals herself by her own words that she is thoughtless, selfish and eats too much that
makes her fat. This kind of method is named the dramatic method.
The character on character method simply means a character in a story talking about another. The example of character on character method in the novel can be seen as follows:
Data 59
“Jean Louise, your brother worried about your thoughtlessness until the day he died!” (Lee, 2015: 31)
Jean Louise is described as a thoughtless person based on the previous conversation between her aunt, Alexandra and his brother, Jem. Her characterization is shaped through the character on character method.
Jean Louise’s journey as a reformist does not end well, she has to face the failure and accept her
discomfiture. The reason why she fails can be explained as follows:
Data 64
“What on earth could I do? I canʼt fight them. Thereʼs no fight in me anymore.” (Lee, 2015: 189)
Jean Louise can be concluded as a failed reformist, because she gives up the fight. She realizes that she is too weak to fight Maycomb people. She realizes that people’s prejudice will not change within a short time. She truly believes in equality, but her fighting spirit is already gone.
The result of this study shows the relation between the three dimensions of character and the method of the characterization. This relation shapes Jean Louise character and her reformist attitude; the both elements make her character fully represented. Jean Louise is described as a colorblind and well-educated woman who believes in race equality. The method applied by the author to describe Jean Louise is the mixed method. Jean Louise is a failed reformist at the end of the story she cannot change people’s prejudice about
racism issue because she has lost her fighting spirit.
Egri, Lajos.1960. The Art of Dramatic Writing. New York: Simon & Schuster,Inc. Available in: http://www/itworkss.com/downlo ad/Books/Lajos/Egri/The /Art/Of/Dramatic/Writing.pdf
Kenney, William. 1966. How to Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press.
Klarer, Mario. 2004. An Introduction to Literature Studies Second Edition. London: Routledge.
Lee, Harper. 2015. Go Set a Watchman. Great Britain: William
Heinemann Penguin Random Groups.
Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. 1962. Theory of Literature. Harcourt: Brace & World
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