Structural Analysis of The Novel Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the structure of novel Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban that created by J.K. Rowling and published in the United Kingdom on 8th July 1999. A literary work contains intrinsic elements as well as extrinsic elements. The examples of intrinsic elements are themes, characterizations, character, and so on. The approach that used in this study is structural approach, because it used to analyze the intrinsic element. Those elements have an important role to give the meaning that the researcher wants to convey. This study points out that friendship dominate the storyline in this novel. This study reveals the writer’s intention to analyze the novel through its theme, character, and characterization and it is expected to enhance the reader's understanding through its elements.

Introduction

Literature can be interpreted as a source or reference used in various activities in the world of education or other activities. It can also be used as a reference to obtain certain information. Literature can be a book, poetry, novels, drama, short stories, prose or a variety of other writings. In fact, not all writings are literature, because it is only aimed at things that have an actual artistic purpose, not just to give information or just something written and then checked as if it had an artistic purpose. Literary works are divided into two namely fiction (imaginative) and non-fiction (non-imaginative). The examples of non-fiction literary works are biographies, autobiographies, essays, and criticism and the examples of fictional literary works are poetry, drama, and prose.

The novel is a lengthy narrative-shaped literary work, in which there is a series of stories about the lives of one character and the surrounding people by highlighting the nature and character of each character in the novel. In addition, the novel can also be a prose-shaped essay that contains intrinsic elements and extrinsic elements. Unlike short stories, the story content of a novel is much longer, complicated, complex, and there are hidden messages or moral values that want to be conveyed by the author to the readers. Novels also divided into two, namely fiction (unreal story) and non-fiction (based on true story or real). In each novel, can be ensured it contains intrinsic elements as well as extrinsic elements. The examples of intrinsic elements are themes, characterizations, settings, plots, and so on. While the examples of extrinsic elements are values in stories, researcher biographies, and so on.

As described above, novel contain intrinsic elements and themes, character and characterizations are part of it. Theme is a point, basic idea, or moral value of a story in the novel. The theme of fictional prose, especially novel, can consist of main themes as well as several subordinate themes. The storyline in the novel are carried out by character, so we can said that characters are actors in the story. The character who become the central of the story namely the protagonist character or the main character. Character is related to the characterization, which is how the author tell or show the personality of a character. In this analysis, researcher will focus on analyze the theme, characters, and characterization in novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling by using structural analysis. So, the theme, characters, and characterization in the novel will be analyzed structurally in order to enhance the reader's understanding.

Literature review

Novel

Novel is a lengthy narrative-shaped literary work, in which there is a series of stories about the lives of one character and the surrounding people by highlighting the nature and character of each character in the novel. Novels also divided into two, namely fiction (unreal story) and non-fiction (based on true story or real), and novels that are widely liked by most people are fictional novel. Eagleton supported by told that although many literature are written factually, but literature written in fiction is also widely written and liked by most people. In each novel, contains intrinsic elements as well as extrinsic elements. The examples of intrinsic elements are themes, characterizations, character, and so on.

Theme

The term theme comes from Latin which means placing a device. It is because the theme is the essence or basic idea of a story. Themes are a fundamental idea or meaning contained in a story. The theme is the core in a story that the author is going to convey through the storyline. So, the story not only contains the sequence of events organized in a chart, but also has a specific intent. Themes are the main ideas or mandate that establish the structure of the contents of the essay. The theme of a short story or novel on all matters in human life. The problems can relate to the problem of power, compassion, jealousy, and so on. The theme is rarely written expressly by its author. To find out, it takes appreciation for all parts of the essay. It could be that the theme was deposited on the storyline, the characters or other symbols that used the author in its story.

Character

Irshad & Ahmed (2015) said that characters are figures created by having certain qualities by the authors and they will be shown through their dialogue, actions and descriptions. Characters are the actors in the story. Without any character there will be no novels. It is because the characters in the novel will then control the course of the story in a novel. The character will pour out his ideas, describe the theme, create and resolve conflicts in the way that each character is. Not a character that will adapt to the story in that novel, but that character will create their own story. Character divided into two types, namely main character and supporting character. Besides that, there are several kind of character, such as major character, minor character, dynamic character, static character, round character, flat character, protagonist, antagonist, and so on.

Characterization

Characterization is a representation of personality of the character in the story, it can be change, such as his view of life, his attitude, his beliefs, his customs, and so on. The personality of the character expressed in adjectives, such as kind, lazy, evil, clever, diligent, stingy and so on. These qualities can be expressed directly by the authors (storylines) or by the words of other character. If we do not find the personality expressed by the words of storylines or other character, the characterization can also be determined from the actions of the character in the story. So the difference between characters and characterization is that the character is a fictional individual who has certain traits and behaviors who experience the events in the story, while the characterization is merely a depiction of the character itself or more precisely can be called as a trait.

Method of analysis

In this study, the researcher applied structural approach to analyze the theme, character, characterization of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling. The novel structure theory is a literary theory used to analyse literary works based on their structure. This theory uses an objective approach that sees autonomous works of literature and regardless of their readers and authors. In structural theory, the analyzed sections include themes, figures, storyline, backgrounds and point of view. The pure structuralism approach lies only around the literary work itself. Structural analysis aims to dismantle and expose as closely as possible, the settings, as detailed and profound as possible linkage and interconnectedness of all aspects of literary work together resulting in a thorough meaning. Besides that, close reading method also applied to analyze the novel.

Results and discussion

Theme in Novel

The theme in this novel is loyalty is important in maintaining friendship. Most of all scenes essentially show the significance of friendship and loyalty. In this novel, it indicated by the relationship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry potter learned just how valuable and devoted his friends, when he fought against the enemy that is known to be very strong and they together to overcome a difficult situation. Besides that, it was also told about the relationship between Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and James Potter who also supported the theme. Here, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black has always been loyal to the relationship of his best friend, James Potter. In contrast to Peter Pettigrew who defected and conspired with Voldemort, thus making James and Lily Potter were killed. When they meet again after all this time, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black still upset with Peter Pettigrew so that almost killed him. Eventually Sirius Black also became the godfather of Harry Potter and guard him because Harry is the son of his best friend, James.

Character in Novel

As described before, characters are the actors in the story. Without any character there will be no novels. It is because the characters in the novel will then control the course of the story in a novel. The main character or the protagonist one in this novel is Harry Potter because Harry Potter appears from the start to end in this book, it makes he become protagonist. He is the hero who fights the antagonist characters (Voldemort). This character is vital to the development of the story because the conflict and the plot serves around him. He has complex personality, so he is a round character. While the supporting character in this novel are the rest character in the novel, such as Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Voldemort, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Hagrid, Peter Pettigrew/Scabbers, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and so on. They called supporting character because even though they appeared and mentioned in the story, they are not the focus. The examples of major character are Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Voldemort, etc. They called major character because they important to the development of the story they appeared and mentioned a lot. The example of minor characters are Sibyll Trelawney, Minerva McGonagall, Lucius Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, etc. They called as minor character because they just serve to complement the major character and they are seldom mentiond or appeared in the story.

Characterization in Novel

In this analysis, the researcher will explain the characterization of one of the characters in the novel, the main character, Harry Potter. He is diligent based on indirect presentation through action (“For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night”). This can be proof that Harry Potter is a diligent person because even though her family ban him to do his homework, he still make them in a secret way in the night. He is smart at sport (Quidditch) based on direct presentation by the author (“Harry happened to be a very good Quidditch player”) and based on indirect presentation through action (“He had been the youngest person in a century to be picked for one of the Hogwarts House teams”). This can be proof that Harry Potter is smart at Quidditch because the author mentioned it directly and if he is the youngest person in a century to be picked for Hogwarts House team, so we can say that he is so smart until his house picked him. He is also brave person, through his daring actions against the most powerful black wizard ever (Voldemort), and not afraid of it. This can be proof that Harry Potter is a brave person because he never escapes from Voldemort and always wants to beat him. He is persistent based on indirect presentation through action, it is shown when he works tirelessly to learn the Patronus Charm, a spell that difficult and most adult wizards can't perform. This can be proof if Harry Potter is a persistent person because he did everything in order to defeat Voldemort.

Conclusion

According to the result, the researcher conclude that the main character in the novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling is Harry Potter, who has characterize as diligent, smart at sport, persistent and also brave person. Then, the theme that used in the novel is loyalty is important in maintaining friendship.

References

• Irshad, A., & Ahmed, M. (2015). THE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF “TAKE PITY”: A SHORT STORY BY BERNARD MALAMUD. European Journal of English Language, Linguistics and Literature, 26-31.
• Persulessy, S. I., Emzir, & Rahmat, A. (2018). Social Values in Charles Dickens’s Novel “Oliver Twist”. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 136-142.