An Analysis of The Conflict In Relation To Character’s Attitude In Val McDermid’s The Grave Tattoo

Abstract

-stroke-width: 0px; "> This research aims to described the relation between character’s attitude and conflict in
The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid. This novel tells the story about Jane Gresham. Jane Gresham is the main character of The Grave Tattoo’s novel. In the novel she is Fellhead native who lives and works in London. She is a post doctoral researcher and Wordsworth scholar. Studying other people’s poetry what she was good at. Now she interest in a longdead body surfaces in a bog near Fellhead in England’s Lake District. Jane in the novel on tracing the manuscript has some conflict. Conflict which is faced by Jane Gresham in this novel comes continuously where the problem is convoluted. In The Grave Tattoo’s novel, we can see that Jane Gresham is struggling to find out the undiscovered manuscript. In the catch up manuscript she got several obstacles. One of the obstacles that Jane meets is conflict with the close people. Conflict is a situation where people or groups involved in a serious argument between an idea, an action, a response, and an interaction. Conflict is experienced by everyone: teenagers, young adults, and adults. In a story in The Grave Tattoo, conflicts become something that makes the reader interested in the whole story of a novel. The conflict happens by the character's attitude in The Grave Tattoo. So this research has a goal to analyze the main character's conflict from the novel of The Grave Tattoo. This research is based on structuralism of literature on intrinsic element analysis of The Grave Tattoo’s novel. The analysis is emphasized on character’s attitude and conflicts observation that has related to each other where the character’s attitude potensial make conflicts development in the novel. This research use structuralism theory. Because Structuralism theory is only focuses on the relationship of the elements of fiction in the work itself. Structuralism is an analysis that attempt to find relationship and connections among elements that appear to be separate and discrete in the text without paying attention to the author and social condition when the novel created. (Roberts, 2003). The theory according to Roberts studies the elements which build the text. The text is build by the elements that appear to be separate and discrete. The elements have connection to each other. The theory studies the elements without making connection with external elements of the text. The author and social condition of the text are not studied. So the study is focused on work itself. In the case of the text of The Grave
Tattoo, the elements which build the text are character, plot, setting, theme and point of view. In this research, studying character and conflict among character are conducted based on the structural principle. Character (in sense of attitude) and conflict among the characters (persons) will be studied by studying the elements. The study (attitude and conflict) is about character and plot. Because of that, the study presents concept of plot and character as the basis analysis of the research. Beside the structuralism theory, The Grave Tattoo need discusses about the meaning of the character. Character is a verbal representation of a human being as presented to us by authors through the depiction of action, conversations, description, reactions, inner thoughts and reflections and also through the authors own interpretive commentary (Roberts, 2003). It means that the ways in observing character are through their action, speech, description and commentary as a verbal representation of human written in a literary work. In The Grave Tattoo the conflict was happen base on plot. Plot is the arrangement of events that make up a story (Roberts, 2003).The plot is an explanation about the storyline of how the story begins, how the story gets a climax, and how the ending story. (Harmon and Holman, 2006). Conflict is a clash of actions, ideas, desires or wills. (Perrine, 1998). The conflict is the opposition of two people. Their conflict can take the shape of envy, hatred, anger, argument, avoidance, gossip, lies, fighting, and many other form and actions. Conflict can also exist between groups, although conflict between individual are more identifiable and therefore more suitable for stories and a situation of choice in which the options are difficult, dangerous, and impossible-a dilemma-creates a natural conflict that individual character frequently confronts. (Roberts, 2003). The objects of this research are to know the character’s attitude and describe what character’s attitude potential to make the conflict of The Grave Tattoo. The research is conducted by applying the close-reading technique. Close-reading means to opposite of what it sound like. When we read closely, we step back. We move from being inside the work to looking at the outside, from participating to observing. This process requires a careful reading and a conscious examination of the element of the work and how they contribute to its overall meaning. Close reading is not a first reading, it is rereading. With this technique, the writer reads the text of The Grave Tattoo repeatedly. After reading the text many times, the writer identifies the conflicts which happen among the characters in The Grave Tattoo. The conflicts are identified through the relationship among characters. The relationship is known by studying the character in sense of verbal representation of human being. The representation is studied through action, speech, description, and commentary. By the technique of structuralism, the research can go to conclusion what are the description of characters and conflicts happen in The Grave Tattoo. Based on the result of the finding of the research, conflict is found in the novel The
Grave Tattoo. Which is The conflicts happen between the main character with other characters.Based on the result of the research, found that the conflict is happened because the character’s attitude. The conflict that happened will lead the main character into a tragedy that interested to be analyzed .
Keyword: Characters, Plot, Conflicts, The Grave Tattoo