CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study Everyone needs beauty in his or her life.
Since the invention of language, one has
enjoyed hearing and reading stories, participating in the fictional experiences and adventures of imaginary
people. The bedtime stories are read to the
children, the thrillers and romances are taken from mass-market magazines, and the historical novels and inspirational
fiction are often enjoyed by elderly people.
Most people consume literary works just for spending their free time or getting pleasure and entertainment. Actually,
the purpose of reading literary work is
not only that the writer wants to help the readers to think about the real life
through reading the literary work. More
than two thousand years ago, the roman’s poet Horace claimed that literature was
“sweet” and “useful”. Since then, literature
has been traditionally understood, at least in western cultures, ashaving the dual purpose of entertaining and educating
its audience (Thomas R.Arp and Greg
Johnson, 2002:51). Literary text is constructed in effect as objects of beauty of literature.
Literary work is a result of the
writer’s creation based on his or her imagination.
Literature is a fiction which is the result of creation based on emotion that can reveal the aesthetic aspect
whether it is based on its language or its
meaning (Fananie, 2000:6). Most critics believe that language is a key aspect of literature and that there has to be enough
language in work of it to be considered
literature (Griffith, 2006:13). Some theorists claim that storywriter use language in special ways. One of those ways,
according to Rene Wellek (in Griffith),
is emphasizing on connotative rather than denotative meaning of word.
Scientists, for example, use
language for its denotative value, its ability to provide signs that mean one thing only. Story writer,
in contrast, use language connotatively
to bring into play all the emotional associations words may have.
Some kinds of literature, for
example poetry, have more connotation than others.
Meanwhile, realistic novels may
contain precise denotative descriptions of physical objects. Most storywriters are
sensitive to the emotional nuances of words (Griffith, 2006:14).
In addition, the Russian Formalists
claim another use of language as defining
quality of literature. The key to literatures, they say, is “literary” language, language that calls attention to
itself as different from ordinary, everyday
language. Language also represents the characteristics of literary work that shows the differences of each genre.
Language is very important to show the literary
genres because literary works are changeable overtime based on the changing of culture. The changing of literary
work is related not only to the language
but also to other aspects, such as, content, theme, and presentation (Fananie, 2000:9).
There are three genres of
literary works: poetry, drama and prose. Each of them has different characteristics. In this
research, the researcherwill focus on analyzing
one of the genres, in example prose. Novel is one of literary works in the form of prose. Novel can be appreciated
for having many values and it is based
upon private relationship between the reader and the writer. Novels provide the reader with understanding the content more
easily rather than short storiesdo.
The novel writer describes more
completely about the character, setting, and its resolution. This is not true for short story
because the length of the novel is not the same as that of short story, which in turn
causes some descriptions to be limited (Thomas
R. Arp and Greg Johnson, 2002:53).
There are many elements of prose
fiction, for example plot, character, setting,
point of view, message, and other. To make story more interesting and better, the writer always presents those
elements to the reader by showing a detailed
picture about how people act and feel in their life. A good writer is able to compose good stories by applying each element
whether intrinsic or extrinsic.
Each of elements never stands on
its own; they work together harmoniously to make a good and perfect story (Koesnosoebroto,
1988:83).
The researcher chooses two
elements of fiction, those are style and tone.
Every literary work, at least,
possesses the qualities of style and tone. Style is said as the writer’s language to perform his or her
work. The role of style in a work of fiction
is an important and complex one (Kenney, 1966:57). Each writer has different style and tone in his or her work.
Writers have the way to use language, select
and arrange words to say what they want to say. On the other hand, they also have attitude toward the subject matters,
characters, or audience.
Style encompasses elements such
as word choice, syntax, sentence length and
structure, and the presence, frequency, and prominence of imagery and figures of speech. Word choice and sentence
structure help to create a tone, which may
be intimate or distant, bitter or affectionate, straightforward or cautious supportive or critical, respectful or
condescending (Kirszner and Mandell, 2004: 75).
Furthermore, the researcher has
chosen Lewis Carroll’s novel entitled Through
the Looking-Glasswhich was published in 1871. It contains twelve chapters, which have adventure story that
satirizes the social condition in England when the author was alive. In this novel,
Carroll’s language has become a partof literary
reference that sifts down from generation apparently of its own volition.
Carroll traded conventional
edification for thought-provoking entertainment,
and his mixtures of wordplay, nonsense, adult-baiting, violence, nightmare, and comedy pushed the whole concept
of writing for children light years
ahead of the generally safe and sentimental didacticism of the earlier literature. Carroll entered the mind of the
child to an extraordinary degree (http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/carroll.htm,
accessed on June 10, 2007).
There is the philosophic and
linguistic aspect of the novel which have always attracted most attention. It is here
that Carroll was in his element. He was a mathematician and logician. Playing with
language was whether did best. This work is centered in the concept of
dreaming. Through the
Looking-Glassoffers the more complex
idea that Alice and her adventure may be simply a part of the Red King’s dream show.
In Through the Looking-Glass,
language has the capacity to anticipate and even cause events to happen. Alice recites
nursery rhymes on several occasions, which
causes Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, and the Lion and the Unicorn to perform the actions that she
describes in her rhymes. Rather than recording
and describing events that have already happened, words give rise to actions simply by being spoken. Tweedledum and
Tweedledee’s quarrel begins only after
Alice recites the rhyme about the broken rattle. Similarly, Humpty Dumpty’s fall does not happen until Alice
describes the events in the classic nursery
rhyme. Language covers actions in Looking-Glass World, rather than simply describe them. The flowers reinforce
this principle by explaining that a tree
can scare enemies away with its “bark.” In our language, there is no relationship between the bark of a dog and the
bark of a tree, but in Looking-Glass World, this linguistic similarity results
in a functional common ground. Trees that have bark are thus able to “bark” just as
fiercely as dogs (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/alice/themes_1,
accessed on June 15, 2007).
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