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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Fiction is a work of art, which has various kinds, and

one of these kinds is the short story. Dealing with short

stories offers the readers enjoyment and appreciation

because when reading short stories, the readers are able to

travel the world within the story, sometimes the readers

discover a new world- wherein they dwell on dreams,

fantasies and imaginations. In other words, the readers

dwell on fancy things.

In addition, reading short stories does not just give

the readers simple enjoyment and appreciation, it also

gives them an opportunity to criticize the story from its

setting, characters and a plot. The readers will scrutinize

the use of symbols or metaphors and the pairs of opposite

also known as the binaries. The readers, being able to be

introduced to these symbolisms, will have a better

understanding on reading short stories especially if they

will focus on textual analysis anchored on structuralism

approach.

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With this, the researchers will try to analyze the

selected short stories by Guy de Maupassant, and they will

try to examine by identifying the binaries, symbols or

metaphors and revealing the ideas that are not stated but

clearly understood.

Statement of the Problem

This study will analyze the selected short stories of

Guy de Maupassant adapting the guide questions for

structuralism approach.1

1. What metaphors or symbols suggest a set of structures

of ideas in the short stories?

2. What concepts (binaries) suggests pairs of opposite?

3. What ideas are understood but are not stated in the

short stories?

Objectives of the Study

To analyze the short stories, the following should be

achieved:

1. To identify the symbol or metaphors used in the

stories;

2. To know the pairs of opposites or the binaries;

1 Linda R. Bascara. World Literature (Manila, Philippines,


Rex Bookstore, 2003) p.12
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3. To reveal the ideas that are not stated but clearly

understood in the stories.

Importance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the following:

Center for Samar Studies. This study will be an

additional entry to their collection of researches.

Department of Languages. This study will serve as an

additional entry to their collection of researches.

Future Researchers. This study will give them idea to

conduct similar study using other approaches in analyzing

other genre of literature.

Literature Students. This study will serve as there

background in analyzing short stories and this will also

serve as their reference when they conduct similar study.

Lay Readers. This study will help them easily understand

the short stories of Guy de Maupassant.

Literature Teachers. This will serve as their guide in

teaching short stories with in – depth analysis.

Scope and Limitation

The selected short stories of Guy de Maupassant were

analyzed focusing on textual analysis anchored on

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Structuralism Approach. The said approach is concerned with

the identification of the binaries, symbols or metaphors

used and revelation of the ideas that are not stated but

clearly understood. Since the researchers were not able to

analyze the seven selected short stories of Guy de

Maupassant, they have come up with only six short stories

because of time constraint.

Theoretical Framework

In literary theory, structuralism is an approach to

analyze the narrative materials by examining the underlying

invariant structure, which is based on the linguistic sign

of system of Ferdinand de Saussure. The structuralists

claim that there must be a structure in every text, which

explains why it is easier for experience readers than non –

experienced readers to interpret a text.2

Structuralism covers wide variety of fields –

psychology, sociology, mathematics, linguistics, etc., and

even in the world of literature, there is still a diversity

2 www.wikipedia.com
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of approaches, all under the wide umbrella of

structuralism.3

This harmony between mathematics and other fields

cannot be written-off as simply the correspondence of a

language with the object it designates. Languages are not

in the habit of forecasting the events they describe;

rather it is a correspondence of human operations with

those objects operators, then this particular operator- the

human being as body and mind-and the innumerable operators

in nature physical objects at their several levels.4

This theory also deals with making conclusions about a

nation’s or human consciousness through a study of the

literature of that nation. It looks for the structure of

literature that parallels the structure of human

consciousness on the mind.5

Jean Piaget’s statement that there are two aspects

common to all varieties of structuralism; first, that the

3 Michael Lane Ed., Introduction to structuralism, (New


York: Basic Books Inc., 1970) p. 23

4 Robert E. Scholes, Structuralism in Literature: An


Introduction, (New Haven, Yale: University Press, 1975) pp.
40-41
5 http//wikipedia.
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structures are possessed of an intrinsic intelligibility

and are therefore, self-sufficient because one does not

have to refer to extraneous elements to be able to grasp,

then; the second aspect merely states that in their

theoretical employment, structures generally have common

properties despite their diversities.6

Literary structuralism often follows the lead of

Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss in seeking out basic

deep elements in stories, myths, and moved recently,

anecdotes, which are combined in various ways to produce

the many version of the ur-story or ur-myth.7

Conceptual Framework

Structural Analysis helps pierce through the confusing

veil of life to reveal the hidden, underlying, logically

complete structure. In its broadest sense, structuralism is

a way of looking for reality not in individual things but

in the relationships among them.

6 Jean Piaget, Structuralism. Translated and edited by


Chaninan Maschler, (New York: Basic Books, 1970) p. 28
7 www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587448/tenor
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Others would argue that structuralism simply reads too much

into text and allows clever professors to invent meanings

that are not actually there.8

With this in mind, the researchers revealed the

underlying invariant structure of selected short stories of

Guy de Maupassant through structuralism approach and draw

some significant implications in teaching literature.

PARADIGM

Short Stories of Guy de


Maupassant

Interpretation and Analysis

Binaries Symbolisms Ideas not


stated but
clearly
understood

Fig.1. The paradigm showing the conceptual framework of the

study

8 http://wikipedia.com
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DEFINITION OF TERMS

To facilitate a clearer understanding, the researchers

conceptually and operationally gathered the meanings of the

common terms mentioned in the study.

Binary- This refers to the pairs of opposites featured

in the stories.9

Fiction- It is the embodiment of the artistic

structures of unity of the plot, characters, setting, point

of view, irony, symbols, theme and styles.10

Linguistics – This is the study of nature, structure,

and variation of language, including phonetics, phonology,

morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics and

pragmatics.

Metaphor – It refers to the analogy between two

objects or ideas, conveyed by the use of a word instead of

another.11

Short Stories – These refer to prose, narratives of

limited length which must have characterizations, unity,

9 Handouts in Literary Criticisms


10 Bascara, Loc. Cit.
11 www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587448/metaphor
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cumulative interests, climax and a resolution. In this

study they are the short stories of Guy de Maupassant.12

Structuralism – This refers to the approach, which

deals with looking for binary opposition in the text.13

Symbolisms – These are the use of multiple symbols

representing differentiated terms in a system which conveys

meaning.

Tenor – this is a component of metaphor which refers

to the concept, object, or a person meant.14

Vehicle – This is the image that carries the weight of

the comparison.15

12 Bascara, Loc. Cit.


13 www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587448/structuralism
14 www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587448/tenor
15 www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/587448/vehicle
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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND RELATED STUDIES

Related Literature

On Structuralism Approach

Structuralism is an approach that attempts to analyze

a specific field as a complex system of interrelated parts.

It began in linguistics with the work of Ferdinand de

Saussure. Structuralism enjoyed little popularity and in

the 1970’s, it came under internal fire from critics who

accused it of being too rigid and historical.16

There are four common ideas regarding structuralism

that form an “intellectual trend” according to Allison

Assiter. Firstly, the structure is what determines the

position of each element of a whole. Secondly,

Structuralists believe that every system has a structure.

Thirdly, structuralists are interested in ‘structural’ laws

that deal with coexistence rather than changes. Finally,

structures are the ‘real things’ that lie beneath the

surface or the appearance of meaning.17

16 http://www.bookrags.com
17 http://www.bookrags.com
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There is also a notion that the structuralism is an

idea of a system in which all the elements are interrelated

and therefore mutually inferable from any significant

sample.18

According to Culler, the advantages of structuralism

have something to do with the idea that literature is the

protocol of reading. It states that structuralism is a

firmer starting-point for reading literature than other

approaches, because literariness or fictionality does not

have to be shown to be inherent in the text, but in the

way, it is read. It explains, for instance, why the same

sentence can have a different meaning depending on the

genre in which it appears; it explain how the boundaries of

the literary can change from age to age; it accommodates

and explains differing reading protocols-one can read a

text for its ‘literary’ qualities or its sociological or

ideological qualities, for instance, and read as complex a

text in doing so.19

Gerard Genette suggests that the things that seem real

to people that are veiled and predicted lead to a

consideration of how “reality” is represented in art- what

18 http//www.classicreader.com
19 http//bookrags.com
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readers get is a “reality effect” then signs which

represents reality are “naturalized’, that is made to seem

as if the readers could see the reality through them- or in

the laws of reality.20

Related Studies

Gorgonia’s study analyzed ten stories of Bienvinido

Santos using the cultural approach to literary criticism.21

Solomon used the reader’s response theory in analyzing

the compulsion to gamble among Hemingway’s short stories.

The researcher found out that the power, self-fulfillment,

good future, good relationship, death, nothingness etc. are

the things that the character most likely to gamble.22

Lebeco used the Freudian approach in analyzing Oscar

Wilde’s novel the picture of Dorian Gray. The study pointed

out the represented desires of the author because it

20 http//bookrags.com
21 Cora Amor Gorgonia, “Cultural Reading of the ten Short
Stories of Bienvinido Santos.” (Unpublished ABLLT Thesis,
University of Eastern Philippines, 2008)
22 Romulo T. Solomon, “The Compulsion to Gamble in Ernest
Hemingway’s Short stories,” (Unpublished ABLLT Thesis,
University of Eastern Philippines, 2008)
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reveals the character’s wishes for immortality, women and

impurity.23

Similarities and Differences

The studies of Gorgonia, Solomon and Lebeco are

similar to the present study in terms of the type of

analysis, which is the use of textual analysis accompanied

by specific approaches in analyzing the short stories. The

present study is different because it used guide questions,

concerning on metaphors, symbolisms and binaries. During

the course of analysis, the researchers gave meaning to

these symbolisms, metaphors and binaries based on the

stories.

23Eric Lebeco, “A Freudian Psychoanalytic Reading of Oscar


Wilde’s Noel the of Dorian Gray,” (Unpublished ABLLT
Thesis, University of Eastern Philippines, 2008)
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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This is a qualitative study focusing on textual

analysis anchored on structuralism approach that was used

in analyzing the short stories of Guy e Maupassant. In the

stories, the ideas that are not stated but clearly

understood, the symbols or metaphors used and the concepts,

which suggest pairs of opposites or the binaries.

Research Procedures

1. Collecting short stories of Guy de Maupassant;

2. Reading the short stories with in – depth analysis;

3. Analyzing the short stories using the structuralism

approach;

4. Interpretation.

Framework Analysis

The researchers used the structuralism approach in

analyzing the data. It aimed at analyzing the stories by

identifying the symbols or metaphors used in the stories,

revealing the ideas that are stated but clearly understood

and knowing the pairs of opposites and the binaries.

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