Tugas 1 Seminar on Literature

Name : Shinta Dewi Ginting

NIM : 2015002019

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER OF “ THE STORM ” A

SHORT STORY BY KATE CHOPIN

ABSTRACT

Literature is referred to as the entirety of written expression, with the

restriction that not every written document can be categorized as literature in the
more exact sense of the word. Literature is also produced by imagination of the
author. Literature is not just a document of facts, it is not just the collection of real
events though it may happen in the real life. Literature can create its own world as a
product of the unlimited imagination”. In analyzing the data, the researcher used
formalist criticism based on Guerin (1992).

Literature is a human living description expressed by the authors through their

literary texts. Understanding literature is about how to understand the texts that
contain their creative process. Formalism is one of the approaches aimed at finding
out what and why the motor of the story works in the literary texts. Daphne du
Maurier’s was analyzed using the formalism approach. The main character obsession
is the one that runs the story, which arouses various conflicts among characters. How
the main character solves the problems in the conflict is the final answer of the story
analysis using the formalism approach.

Keywords: character, literature, formalism

 INTRODUCTION

Literature is a form of creative art and the work that the object is a human
being and language as the medium Esten (1978: 9) From the definition above, it is
clear that literature can not be separated from language, because language is the
medium of literature. Human also have an important role in literature, because human
are the object of literature. Literary works include prose, poetry, drama, and novel.
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and
focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of
evoking a "single effect" or mood, however there are many exceptions to this.

In a short story there are many elements which build the unity of the whole
story. One of the elements is a character. Characters also a part of intrinsic element of
short story. Characters are real and distinct properties shown by individuals, a number
of attributes that can be observed in individuals W.B. Saunders, (1977: 126).

The Storm tells about an extramarital affair in the South, is very sexually
explicit, especially for the time it was written, in 1898. Because of that, the story
wasn't published during Chopin's lifetime. It would have been completely scandalous.

Based on the researcher’s experiences when analyzed the components of a

prose or a short story especially in analyzing the main characters of a sort story, the
researcher got difficulties and confused to find out them, because the researcher do
not know the strategy how to find the main character of a story or novel and confused
to determine which one is the main character.

Based on the explanation above, the writer interested to analyze one of the
intrinsic element in a kind of literary work. In this study the writer focused on
analyzed the main character in the short story of The storm by Kate Chopin used the
formalism approach . The main character can make this story more interesting.
Calixta as main character is very pretty and that even though it is been more than five
years since she and Alcée had their fling, she still looks good.