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A portion of the novel 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' written in the first person perspective of the protagonist Jacob. Jacob's feelings of guilt and the danger he poses to Miss Peregrine and the peculiar children due to his arrival in their loop. The text also mentions the repetition of the digilib.uinsby.ac.id sequence throughout the document.
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Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Sarjana Degree of English Department Faculty of Arts and Humanities State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya
By: Imas Bening Kamal Aisyah Reg. Number: A
The undersigned,
Name : Imas Bening Kamal Aisyah
Reg. Number : A
Certify that the thesis that I wrote to fulfill the requirement for the degree of Sarjana in English Department, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, State Islamic University Sunan Ampel Surabaya entitled The Way Jacob Face His Absurd Life in Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children By Ransom Riggs is truly my original work. This thesis contains no material previously published or written by other person except where due references is made in the text of the thesis.
Surabaya, January 24th^2017
Imas Bening Kamal Aisyah Reg Number: A
This thesis has been approved and accepted by the board of examiners of English Department Faculty of Arts and Humanities State Islamic University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya on February 2018 The Dean of Faculty:
Dr. H. Imam Ghazali, M. A. NIP: 196002121990031002
The Board of Examiners: Head of Examiners,
Abu Fanani, S. S., M. Pd NIP. 196906152007011051
Examiner I,
Sufi Ikrima Sa’adah, M. Hum NUP. 201603318
Secretary,
Abdulloh Ubed. M. Ag NIP. 196605071997031003
Examiner II,
Dr. A. Dzoul Milal. M. Pd NIP. 19600515200031002
xii
Aisyah, Imas Bening Kamal. 2018. The Way Jacob Face His Absurd Life in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. English Department, Faculty of Arts andUniversity (UIN) Sunan Ampel Surabaya. Humanities, State Islamic
Advisor: Abu Fanani, S. S., M. Pd.
This study attempts to analyze the way Jacob against his absurd life in Ransom Riggs‘ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Jacob Portman experiences unexpected condition. He looks for the truth of his grandfather‘s past in order to restore his peaceful and normal life. However, after he found out about his grandfather‘s past, contrary he cannot got back to his previous life as what he planned before. His life changes into dangerous life. It made him feels hopelessness. This study aims to describe Jacob‘s absurd life, the way he against his absurd life and his characterization. To solve these problems, this study uses Absurdism theory by Albert Camus which is defined about the confrontation between human‘s desire and the world and revolt as the right way to face an absurd life and New Criticism theory as supporting theory. The result of this study shows that Jacob has five characteristics; intelligent, brave, idealistic, responsible and rebellious. His absurd life describes when his life does not go as what he planned. The feeling of hopelessness and anguish in his life are as the effects ofabsurd life. Moreover, the way he against his absurd life is by doing revolt. He continues and faces his life which is not as what he expects before.
Keywords: Absurd, Revolt, Freedom
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CHAPTER I INRTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Literature is a tool to pour someone‘s idea. According to Wellek and Warren, the relation between literature and ideas can be conceived in very diverse ways. Frequently literature is thought of as a form of philosophy, as "ideas" wrapped in form; and it is analyzed to yield "leading ideas." (107). It means that literature is a form of philosophy and through analyzing literature, the idea of someone about philosophy can be found.
Literature and philosophy are human‘s work which contain the author‘s ideas. Both of them talk about human‘s life. Philosophy contains the fact of human‘s life that evaluated its identity and essence, while literature contains human‘s life that is processed through author‘s imagination. This imagination is stated on the human's creativity that further is poured in written words (Sutrisno qtd in Nevada 27). Thus, philosophy and literature can run together, due everyone can do philosophy through literature. In line with Thomson, literature is not only a form of philosophy or idea, it is also a form of imagination from the author‘s thought (5). Therefore, literature contains not only philosophy about human life but also imaginative thought from the author to make the reader happy.
Literature is classified into three genre; epic, drama, and poetry. Because the epic was widely replaced by the new prose form of the novel in the eighteenth century, recent classifications prefer the terms fiction, drama, and poetry as designations of the three major literary genres (Klarer 9). Fiction is divided into
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two kind; fiction and non-fiction. Fiction is a general term for an imaginative work, usually in prose. It is usually written with the author‘s imagination. Fiction is now used in general of the novel, the short story, the novella and related genres (Cuddon 279). Nevertheless, non-fiction can be form of novel or documentary fiction based on real events and people that largely draws on documentary evidence such as newspaper articles, official papers, personal letters, and interviews. Elements of the story‘s narrative, in particular, the conversations and thoughts of the protagonists are the author‘s invention (Cuddon 474). One of the forms of fiction is novel. As a literature work novel is a long prose fiction, presenting characters and displays a series of events and a structured background (Sudjiman 55). Fiction novel usually comes from author imagination. Imagination of the author can contain human desire, human existence and human life which portrayed by using a certain character inside the storyline of the novel. The appearance of literary works which is related to human life is a part of existential novel (Putri 24). Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is one of the novels which portrays about human existence using an imaginative genre and specifies it through fantasy storyline. Ransom Riggs is a writer from USA. His first novel is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, born out of his love for vintage photography and bizarre stories in June 2011 (http://www.ransomriggs.com/about.php). The presences of vintage photographs in his novel serve not only as decorative elements, but also interwoven with the narrative. From this, the author‘s imagination can be seen; how he developed the story based on a collection of
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In the face of life, human suffering can be lived with full awareness and hope even though he knows that death is a sure thing. This spirit to keep living the life is rated as a revolt against the absurdity of human life. As Camus said revolt, not suicide, is the right protest against the absurd (Lewis 14).
Based on the background above, the issue of this study is about Jacob Portman‘s life which was not as he expects hence his life being absurd. It made him felt hopelessness but he did not give up on his condition. He continued and faced it. Camus‘ attitude toward absurdity is revolt ( La ravolte ) since revolt is the existence of subjectivity and freedom. Therefore, Albert Camus‘ concept about Absurdism can be applied in this study. This study also applies New Criticism as the supporting theory to describe about the character of Jacob Portman.
1.2 Statement of Problem Based on the background of the study above, the problems of this study will be formulated in three following questions:
1.3 Objective of the Study
In the connection with the problems of statement above, this study aim to:
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1.4 Scope and Limitation
To get a focused discussion, the study will be limited to the novel written by Ransom Riggs entitled Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The scope of this study focuses on the way Jacob face absurdity in his life in the novel. Therefore, the explanation of absurdity in Jacob‘s life is important subject to analyze and also the characterization of Jacob Portman as the main character.
1.5 Significance of the Study
This study is expected to give valuable contribution theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it hopes that this study can be helpful for readers in order to understand the content of the novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and how absurdism concept by Albert Camus is applied in this study. Jacob‘s action toward his absurd condition also gives knowledge to the readers, especially for those who have an interest in studying and comprehending life through literature.
Practically, it hopes that this study can be used as reference, especially for students of English Literature in Islamic State University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya who analyze this novel or other novel by using the same theory. For literary scholars or other people who are mostly interested in literature, this study becomes a comparison for other researchers, although this can be debatable to be more perfect by using absurdism concept or other theory.
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1.6.3 Method of Collecting Data
Since the data becomes the most important part for conducting a research, so it must be collected effectively and completely. Method of data collection is one of the research methods parts that will explain how the data are collected to support the research. In collecting data for the research which based on the qualitative research method, the steps of data collection are:
a. Preparing the novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children as the main data.
b. Collecting the data from the novel by reading comprehensively and repeatedly to get a valid data.
c. Selecting the reference that is related to novel that can support.
1.6.4 Method of Data Analysis
The data collected will be analyzed related to the literary theory. This study is taken based on some references from a library. To analyze it, this study uses qualitative research methods. The data analysis will involve several steps:
a. Collecting and selecting the narration and conversation in the novel that are related to the problems of study.
b. Classifying the data based on the objectives of study.
c. Analyzing the collected data based on the theory and concept in theoretical framework.
d. Drawing conclusion based on the result of data analysis.
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1.7 Definition of Key Term
There are some definitions of key terms used in this study. These are the explanation of the key terms:
Absurd is the tension which emerges from the individual‘s determination to discover purpose and order in a world which steadfastly refuses to evidence either (Childs & Fowler 1).
Revolt is the certainly of a crushing fate, without the resignation that ought to accompany it. Human who is doing revolt means that his condition is irremediable, but he does not give up, he against his condition by continuing to live his life (Camus 36).
Freedom is thus not limited to a specific ―faculty‖ of the will; rather, it is a general power of choice and self-determination, evident in a range of behaviors and actions that lends existence its human character (Michelman 183).
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incomprehensible. They were starting to question about the purpose of their existence in the world. They felt that their rights as a human being was not respected anymore, which can be seen through the huge number of innocent people who were tortured and killed by other humans. The values of humanity that have already existed became meaningless. It created a feeling that their lives were purposeless, meaningless, and senseless (Kostelanetz qtd in Kurniawan 10). In addition, they begin to feel the futility of their efforts in maintaining a life that leads only to death. That awareness brings philosophers and writers to think more about human condition. It inspires the emergence of new ideas such as absurdism and Albert Camus became the originator. Albert Camus is a writer who was born and grew up in Constantin, Algeria. The bitter experience of war influenced all his works. At the time of World War II, he published his novel The Stanger (1942) and an essay The Myth of Sisyphus (1942). With both of these works Camus is judged as the originator of Absurdism (Solomon & Higgins 552). Camus' whole life (1913-1960) is a passionate struggle to seize the meaning of human existence, because Camus believes that human life is meaningless. Human whole being is absurd, as the suffering of innocent people. Because suffering is absurd, Camus refuses the existence of God. He thinks if God does not help them in their suffering, it is better if he assumes that God does not exist. He believes in one‘s self to face human suffering (Prasetyo 8).
Camus‘ philosophical ideas; the concept of the Absurd and the notion of Revolt made him called as existentialist but disavowed the label:
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―I am not a philosopher, because I don‘t believe in reason enough to believe in a system. What interests me is knowing how we must behave, and more precisely, how to behave when one does not believe in God or reason‖ (Camus qtd in Sherman 1).
His response was clear. He refuses to be called a philosopher or an existentialist because he never showed much interest in metaphysical and ontological questions (the philosophical raison d‘etre of Heidegger and Sartre). Although there is no rule that says an existentialist must be a metaphysician. However, Camus‘s seeming aversion to technical philosophical discussion does suggest one way in which he distanced himself from contemporary existentialist thought. Yet, Camus qualifies as, at minimum, a closet existentialist, and in certain respects such as his unconditional and passionate concern for the individual (Simpson ). Camus is interested in how to behave when one does not believe in God or reason. In English-speaking world, ―absurd ―may simply mean ―ridicules‖ but this is not the sense in which Camus Uses the word. According to Camus, Absurd is irrational as what he stated in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays that: ―It‘s absurd‖ means ―It‘s impossible‖ but also ―It‘s contradictory.‖ If I see a man armed only with a sword attack a group of machine guns, I shall consider his act to be absurd. But it is so solely by virtue of the disproportion between his intention and the reality he will encounter, of the contradiction I notice between his true strength and the aim he has in view (21). Through the quotation above it can be seen that absurd means impossible. Camus reveals that absurd is closely related to contradictions between a human's mind and the world. As illustrated in the example above, how can a man only with a sword bear down a group of machine guns. His purpose and the reality are
