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Chapter II
Figurative Language
2.1 Definitions of Figurative Language Figurative language is language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. Figurative language makes expression of varied thoughts and feelings. It comes to how to compose sentence effectively and aesthetically, it can give concrete description in mind of the reader. According to Pradopo (2010:62) Majas menyebabkan karya sastra menjadi menarik perhatian, menimbulkan kesegaran, lebih hidup, dan menimbulkan kejelasan gambaran angan. Figurative language is very common in poetry, but it also used in short story. Figurative language plays a major role in compelling literary works. Its primary purpose is to force readers to imagine or intuit what an author means with an expression or statement. Mulitiple literary devices and elements are commonly used in the category of figurative language. The important thing of figurative language is can makes language more colorful. It means allows people to express abstract thoughts. It create tone and communicates emotional content, often through humor. In addition to create the beautiful image of words, through the style of language can also give the personal impression of the author. It will be reflected in the diction of the words that used to make the reader feel comfy to read. In clearly or obscured a writing will surely reflecting the author. Because the process of writing needed by the brain that depends on the author itself. The author’s intelligence is evident from the constructed story and the style of language that used in the writing.
Related close to the figurative language which is discussed in this study, that will not be separated from the style of language, because form of language style expression. According to (Nurgiyantoro 2010 : 297) Permajasan adalah teknik pengungkapan bahasa, penggaya bahasan yang maknanya tidak menujuk pada makna harfiah kata-kata yang mendukung, melainkan pada makna yang ditambah, makna yang tersirat. Fungsi majas untuk menciptakan efek yang lebih kaya, lebih efektif, dan lebih sugestif dalam karya sastra. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that figurative language is languages that are styled using a variety of specific language. And can be identified through the use of language that deviates from daily languages.
2.2 Kinds of Figurative Language According to Tarigan (1986:113) states that figurative language can be categorized into four groups, those are:
1. Figure of Comparison Figure of comparison divided into five groups , those are: simile, metaphor, personification, allegory, and anthitesis. 2. Figure of Contradiction Figure of contradiction divided into seven groups, those are: hyperbole, litoses, irony, oxymoron, paronomasia, paralypsis, and zeugma. 3. Figure of Correlation
Based on the explanation above, the researcher used two theories, those are from Tarigan and Kosasih that almost has the same theories. The researcher used two theories because to make a comparison to find the right theory. So, the conclusion is the researcher choose Tarigan theory because it has four figurative types that appropriate to the Madre’s short stories by Dee Lestari. Because if the researcher use the theory of Kosasih, there are several kinds of figurative language that do not match with the kinds of figurative language in Madre’s short stories.
2.2.1 Figure of Comparison Simile Simile comes from Latin which means “such as”. Simile is comparison of two different things but considered has the same meaning. Simile is described explicitly by use of the words: such as, like, if as, as though, be like. (Tarigan, 1986:118). Examples: - Her spirits are hard as steel.
- His face was pale like a corpse.
- Her face was shone like a full moon.
Metaphor Metaphor comes from Greek. Metha which means “displace”, and pherein means “bring”. According to Poerwadarminta (in Tarigan 1986:121) states that metaphor is words that do not have real meaning, however description based on similarities or comparisons. Examples: - Library is a warehouse of knowledge.
- He is a gold son of my uncle.
- Yanti is a flower village in my hometown.
Personification Personification comes from Latin that is persona which means “human”, and fic which means “make”. According to Moeliono (in Tarigan, 1986:123) personification is the type of figure of speech which applies the character of human to inanimate object. Examples: - Love is blind.
- The roaring wind.
- The night wind cover up our bodies.
Allegory Allegory comes from Greek allegorein, allos and agoreuein which means speaking figuratively. According Tarigan (1986:125) allegory is figure of comparison which is told with symbols. Allegory can be in the form of poetry and prose. Allegory is a style of language that compares two pieces of wholeness based on their overall similarities. Example: - The journey of human life like a river that flowing down to the cliffs, sometimes difficult to guess its depth, who is willing to accept all the garbage, and eventually stop when meets the sea.
Irony Irony is figure of speech that express contradictory meanings which has a purpose to humiliate (Moeliono in Tarigan 1986 : 133). The purpose can be achieved by arguing: incompatibility between expectation and reality. Examples: - The room was spotless, lots of scraps of paper on the floor.
- Your body is so fragrant that no one is approaching you.
- Your writing is very nice like a child who just learned to write. Oxymoron Oxymoron is figure of speech which contains the establishment of a syntactic relationship between two antonyms (Ducrot and Todorov in Tarigan, 1986 : 134). Examples: - People who climb a mountain are attracting attention even though very dangerous.
- Languages can be used as a national unifier tool but also can as a tool of divisive. Paronomasia Paronomasia is figure of speech which contains an alignment of words that has a similarity sound but has other meanings (Ducrot and Todorov in Tarigan, 1986 : 135). Examples: - On the nail tree was plugged into several pieces of nails to attract a flower pot. Paralysis
Paralypsis is figuire of speech to explain that someone doesn’t say what is implied in the sentence (Ducrot and Todorov in Tarigan, 1986 : 136). Examples: - No one likes you (sorry) hate you.
- Take me the money (sorry) give me the money, please!
Zeugma Zeugma is a combination of two words containing contradictory of semantic characteristics such as abstract and concrete (Ducrot and Todorov in Tarigan, 1986 : 138). Examples: - My boy is diligent and also lazy to study at school.
- We must be a good person in the earth or in the afterlife.
- Near or far, it’s same cost, two thousand per person.
2.2.3 Figure of Correlation Metonymy Metonymy is figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name something else with which it is closely associated. Example: - The White House, for president of the United States.
Synecdoche Synecdoche is to figure of speech to explain a part of the object to state the whole thing or otherwise (Dale in Tarigan, 1986 : 140).
- Ronaldo and Messi are playing in the field. (rRemoval element of object: football) Inversion Inversion is the phase of figure of speech in which the use of sentence arrangement is not as common as usual sentence. In other words, inversion is the subject-predicet sequence change to predicet-subject. Ducrot and Todorov (In Tarigan, 1986 : 145). Examples: - I am hungry become hungry me.
- The color is red become red color. Gradation Gradation is the figure of speech taht use the last words in the sentence became the first words in the sentence later (Traigan, 1985 : 146). Example: - I love you, you have given me a wonderful love that was change my life.
2.2.4 Figure of Repetition Alliteration Alliteration is the commencement of two or more words in close connection with the same sound (Drabble, 1985 : 18). Example: - Find me fifteen friendly friars.
Antanaklis Antanaklis is figure of speech that repeats the similar words, but the meaning of word is dissimila (Tarigan, 1985 : 149).
Example: - Her body sweating after gym, so she drinks a bottle of Pocari Sweat.
Chiasmus Chiasmus is figure of speech by which the other words in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second (Drabble, 1985 : 189). Example: - She saved others; herself can not save.
Repetition Repetition is figure of speech by which the same words or phrases are used repeatedly in successive clauses (Tarigan, 1985 : 152). Example: - Awake up my glory, awake up my lute and harp, and I will awake right early. 2.3 Meaning The term meaning is simply derived from the word mean. The word ‘meaning’ has a number of definitions as suggested by semantics, for instance, Leech in Dewi (2010,p.16) notes three points of meaning, those are:
- Meaning involves the speaker’s intention to convey a certain meaning that may or may not be evident from the message itself.
- Consequently, interpretation by the hearer is likely to depend on the context.
- Meaning in the sense is something, which is performed rather than something that exist is static way. It involves action and the interaction.
Example: We are eating fast food. Words of fast food has a meaning of makanan cepat saji in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Kridalaksana in Suwandi (2008:82) described that connotative meaning is the aspect of the meaning of a group of words based on the feelings or thoughs that arise from the conversation of author and listener. Example: You are such a sweet person. Words of sweet has a meaning of manis in Indonesia or can be used to declare a very good person. From the two theories above, the researcher choose connotations meaning because it’s related with dominant figurative language in Madre’s short stories by Dee Lestari. Because connotative meanings are more professional and operational than denotation meaning. In other words, connotative meaning is the meaning associated with a particular condition and situation.
2.5 Biography of Dewi Lestari Dewi “Dee” Lestari Simangunsong is an Indonesian writer, singer, and songwriter. Dee was born in Bandung, West Java on 20 January 1976. She was the fourth of five children born to a religius Christian family. Raised to be active in music, she took up singing, later providing backing vocals for singer such as Chrisye. After graduating high school, she attended Parahyangan Catholic University and graduated with a degree in international relations. In 1993, she form the girl group RSD (Rida Sita Dewi) with her friends Rida Farida and Sita Nursanti, together they released three albums and a greatest hits album on Warna Musik and Sony Musik.
From chilhood, writing was always Dee’s deepest passion. On fifth grade, little Dee imagined one day she would go to a bookstore and saw her published book displayed on the shelves. Not to long after, she bought a notebook and wrote in it up until the last page. At that time, for her it was the closest experience of being an author. During her teenage years, Dee started to write few young adult short fictions, sent it over to magazines for publications and got many rejections. She tried to enter writing competitions with no better luck. She felt frustrated, thinking she could never fulfill the mainstream requirements. She ended up writing short fictions that were too long and novels that were too short. She decided to keep all her work to herself. Showing them only to friends and family. Writing then became her rather hidden passion. Out of her many savings that she made from singing. Dee bought her first laptop. Paper Boat, The Coffee Philosophy, Rico De Coro, were samples of her early work in college and only being published more than a decade later. However in 1993, Dee was moved to enter a writing competition. She didn’t feel confident so she used her little sister’s name. Dee article won the first prize. Few years later, Dee’s oldest sister Key Mangunsong, showed Dee’s short fiction Rico De Coro to her friend. Hilman Hariwijaya, a famous Indonesian writer. Hilman submitted Rico De Coro to Mode Magazine, one of Indonesia’s leading teenage magazines at that time. Mode published the story and received raving responses from the readers. Only in 200, Dee started to wrote a manuscript she believed would turn to her real, first book. It was the first installment of Supernova series, an episode titled Kesatria, Putri, dan Bintang Jatuh. She was unsure her manuscript would interest
Dee resurrected her musical talents again when her next book. Rectoverso , was published in 2008. Eleven short stories “mirrored” eleven songs that she had written and performed (each with same title). This experimental project became the first literature-music hybrid work in Indonesia. As a whole, Rectoverso was a multidimensional experience, combining audio through orchestral music arrangements, visual through book illustrations, and of course, literature. Produced by Tommy Utomo and Ruzie Firuzie. Rectoverso as the music album, was live recorded by 46 musicians under Magenta Orchestra with two main arrangers. Andi Rianto and Ricky Lionardi, Fahmi Ilmansyah who had designed Dee’s book covers for years, was in charge of the whole graphic design and illustration. Dee’s next book was an anthology titled Madre , another compilation of her short stories written in the span of five years (2007-2011). A collection of thirteen short stories and poems. Madre received Literary Award 2012 from the Ministry of Education and Culture. After nearly eight years break, Supernova series was back in 2012 with its fourth installment: Partikel. The launch became the talk of the nation, and made it into Twitter’s trending topic worldwide. Partikel received many good reviews from critics and readers. Even the legendary column in Tempo Magazine, written by a renowned poet / essayist Goenawan Mohamad, had made a whole post dedicated to Partikel’s leading character, Zarah. Aside of herself-publishing company, Truedee Books. Dee had worked with several publishers, such as Bark, Akoer, Gagas Media, and Goodfaith Production. Now, all her works are under one publishing company, Bentang Pustaka. The fifth episode of Supernova, Gelombang is released in October 2014. A year after, Dee
and Gelombang was awarded as The Most Favorite Fiction Author and The Most Favorite Fiction Book in Anugerah Pembaca Indonesia (Indonesia Readers Award). The Supernova series finally reached an end in February 2016 as the final episode. Inteligensi Embun Pagi , was released. The sixth Supernova book took the market by the storm. Ten thousand copies was sold by pre-order even before the book hits the bookshelves.
2.6 Synopsis of Madre’s Short Stories Consist of 13 works of fiction and short prose, Madre’s anthology is a collection of Dee’s work for five years (2006-2011).
- Madre Tansen Roy Wuisan didn’t expect a day to be given inheritance from a grandfather that he never knew, his name is Tan Sin Gie. He does not even know he has Chineese blood. Tansen who loves freedom and has been living a relaxed live in Bali suddenly had to accept the presence of a breadbasket dough called Madre and Tan De Bekker old bakery that led by Mr. Hadi. And then, a women named Mei from Fairy Bread company, appears and wants to get Madre.
- Rimba Amniotik This short story is unique because has an implied message and it does not characters or dialogue. Tell story about an unusual love letter from a mother to the fetus that being conceived, reflecting the amazing journey of man from nothingness to the birth.
There was never a problem between Che and Starla as long as they did not discuss Starla’s complicated love life. But, as soon as Starla gets close to Rako, Che’s best friend since childhood, Che takes immediate action. In order to save Rako, Che stakes his friendhsip with Starla. But something happened more than that.
Poetry and short prose in this anthology are: Perempuan dan Rahasia, Ingatan tentang Kalian, Wajah Telaga, Tanyaku Pada Bambu, 33, Percakapan di Sebuah Jembatan, dan Barangkali Cinta.
