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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the writer explains some theories related to the study. this chapter covers some theories such as explanation of figurative language, novel, and The Great Gatsby novel. 2.1 Figurative language There are not much people will understand what figurative language is. It is because figurative language is not a common language used in a daily basis. Figurative language is a language which having a different meaning instead of the literal one. it is commonly used in some literary works such as novels, poems, and short stories. As coined by Sam Glucksberg (2001), figurative language is a saying in which its intended meaning is, somehow, different from the literal meaning of the words provided. It is normal if some people sometime misunderstood about a certain saying. There are some kinds of figurative language which can be identified. Some of them are irony, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, understatement, paradox, and personification. 2.1.1 Irony In several discussion, the word ‘irony’ is often mentioned. While talking about irony, it is always related to some things such as unfortune, sadness, or even betrayal in a story. That is quiet relatable. Irony, somehow, can give a tension for somebody who reads the story. Irony is kind of technique used by the writer to show a humorous story that happened to the character's life. As Michael Meyer says in his book “ The Bedford
Introduction to Literature”, irony is a device for the writer of a story to show that reality is different from what it is expected to be. The defnition of irony is also provided in Perrine's Literature that irony is a condition when the character of a story is facing a circumstance that is contrary to the actual condition. From those definitions of irony, it can be concluded that irony is something that is happened contrary to what it should be. Irony is categorized into 3 kinds: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and irony of situation. 2.1.1.1 Types of Irony According to Perrine's Literature book, there are three types of irony which can identified; verbal irony, dramatic irony, and irony of situation. A. Verbal Irony Verbal Irony is the simplest form irony that can be found inside the story. It is happened when the character said something contrary to what the character really want to say. This type of irony is almost the same as sarcasm. The difference is merely in the purpose. Verbal irony is not intended to hurt a person and it is merely trying to express the opposite condition of what actually happened, while sarcasm is intended to hurt others' feeling. In some stories, irony can be easily found, whether it is merely for a joke, or even ax expression of sadness. This kind of irony is often uttered by the characters to express their uncertain feeling. The example of this irony is when the character says “I feel so lonely..” but the actual condition shows that the character is not alone. It shows that the character has an uncertain feeling towards the people around the character itself. B. Dramatical Irony Dramatic irony is not a kind of irony which is written inside the story. This kind of irony can be occurred while the readers find a storyline that is not wanted to
somehow, unrelatable. However, the description is reflecting the condition very well. Cowie and Abbiss (2014) describe metaphor as an incomplete representations of the situations that is happened around. “he is a night owl..” is one of the examples of metaphor. That sentence does not really mean that the person is an owl. It is just reflecting the life of the person is like a night owl, stay awake at night and sleep at noon. In other words, the person has a nocturnal life. 2.1.3 Simile This kind of figurative language is often compared to metaphor, because it is almost the same. The word simile came out from the Latin word ‘simile’ which means ‘resemblance and likenesses’. It could already be known from its original meaning that simile is the comparison between two things which share the same characteristics (Hussain, 2014). Simile could be easily detected by trying to find the similarity signals (‘like’, ‘as’). This kind of figurative language is often used in many stories to gives an artistic touches for the readers. The sentence “her hair is as smooth as silk..” is one of the example of simile. 2.1.4 Hyperbole Actually, the word hyperbole is a word from Greek which means overshooting. The function of it can be predicted from the name of this kind of figurative language. Hyperbole is trying to emphasize a feeling towards something as if it is important and urgent, yet the actual condition is neither important nor urgent. According to Abrams (1999:120), hyperbole is an overstatement of a fact. This can generate the comic effect for those reads the hyperbole. The example of this figurative language is when the character says, “welcome to my huge and luxurious house..”. However, the house that belongs to the character is not as big and luxurious as what it seems. The character is exaggerating his house to the others.
2.1.5 Understatement Understatement is a figure of speech which is the opposite to hyperbole. In a Greek terms, it is called as ‘meiosis’ which means lessening in English. According to Flayih (2009), Understatement is one of a types of figurative language that is making something be less important or implies that something is not really a big deal, regardless of the actual condition. When a character said, “I just have a few collections, that is not a big deal.”, the character’s saying is not appeared to be true. The actual condition is the character have the most fully completed collections. The characters does not want to expose his collection that much to his friend.
2.2Novel Prose is a kind of writing which has no patterning. It is not bounded with any kinds of metric system in its writing. Unlike the poetry that is using some metric systems in its writing (i.e. rhymes and rhythms). Prose consists of descriptive text, narrative text, expository, and expressive text. Novel is included in the narrative text because it has a purpose to entertain the readers with the story. The word ‘novel’ is derived from the Italian language ‘novella’ which means ‘a little new thing’. It is begun from the fourteenth century in Italy. Commonly, novella told in a form of short tale and it keeps developing over the time up until now. In this current era, novel is popular among the people. Novel is indeed an interesting reading because it provides a complex storyline that makes the reader curious about what happens next. It is a story that is arranged and written in a very long storyline. According to Abrams (1999), Novel is any kinds of writing which is commonly told a fictitious story in a form of prose.It has sizeable length and some complexity with some various storyline developments. 2.2.1 Kinds of Novel According to Abrams (1999), there are some kinds of novel that have already identified based on the subject matter and purpose that the novels contain. Here is the following explanation about the kinds of novel: A. Novel of education This kind of novel tells the reader about the protagonist character’s development throughout his/her life. Commonly, it is started from the childhood of the protagonist, continued by the journey of the protagonist to find the protagonist’s true self through a tough psychological conflict, and finally lead the protagonist reach self-maturity.
It often tells the reader about an artist’s way of life. As previously stated that this kind of novel is started by telling the artist’s childhood until he/she reach the self maturity. Here, the self-maturity is indicated by the artist’s mastery in his/her pieces of work. B. Social novel It is a novel that social and economical condition of a cetain era means everything. Those can drive the development of a character and even the storyline itself. It also can be the representation of the political climate from a certain era. C. Historical novel This kind of novel uses the any aspect of history (i.e., a person or an event ) to built a story. But it is not only taking a character and an event of history, it also makes the historical event to be an important aspect and crucial for the story itself. The writer also makes an action of a main character clearer in order to create a clear imagination for the reader about a certain event that is happened. There are several great historical events that is adopted in some novels such as french revolution and the invasion of Napoleon’s army towards Russia. Historical novel is also known as documentary novel that tells the great event that happened in the past, from the character, historical event, and the chronological sequences. It is also considered as a non-fiction novel because everything that is being told in the story is also happened in the real past.
says, “they are such a beautiful shirts.” When she said that, she is actually not happy with Gatsby’s shirts. She express her regret for not being with him. The dramatical irony in this novel is quite well too. The plot that the readers do not want to happen is provided here by the writer. By reading the story, the readers will feel sorrowful. It can be found in a plot when Gatsby meets Daisy’s current husband Tom. Gatsby should not meet him because they will be obviously quarreling. And the last is irony of situation. It is commonly used by the character to express their hardship throughout their current tragic life. The example of irony of situation that can be found in the story is when Gatsby says, “Then came the war, old sport. It was a great relief, and I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life.” In the past, Gatsby had surrendered and he would rather to choose died in the war, but he was still alive. Here, the sadness of the story is nicely wrapped by using all kinds of irony.
