Example of Proposal Literature

A.     TITLE       : THE ADVENTURE IMAGINATIONS OF THE AUTHOR AS REFLECTED IN TREASURE ISLAND BY ROBERT LOUIS BALFOUR STEVENSON: AN EXPRESSIVE APPROACH

B.     DISCIPLINE       : Literature

C.    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

An adventure is an activity that is perceived to involve risky, dangerous or exciting experiences. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, breaking entering, committing misdemeanors, and participating in extreme sports. However, the term also broadly refers to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with physical, financial or psychological risk, such as a business venture, a love affair, or other major life undertakings.

An adventurer is a person who bases his lifestyle or their fortunes on adventurous acts. An adventurer or adventuress is a term that usually takes one of three meanings: one whose travels are unusual and often exotic, though not so unique as to qualify as exploration, one who lives by their wits, and one who takes part in a risky or speculative course of action for profit or position. (http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/adventure)

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson one the best and famous author Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, the popular Scottish novelist and essayist, was born on November 13, 1850 in Howard Place, Edinburgh. He was the son of a civil engineer, Thomas Stevenson and Margaret Isabel Balfour. Christened ‘Robert Lewis Balfour’, at the age of 18 he dropped the name Balfour and changed his middle name from Lewis to Louis. Some of his best-known works for example: Treasure Island (1883), The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses historical adventure novel romance Wars of the Roses, Prince Otto (1885) ,Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886),Kidnapped (1886) ,The Master of Ballantrae (1889),The Wrong Box (1889),The Wrecker (1892), Catriona (1893),The Ebb-Tide (1894),Weir of Hermiston (1896). Unfinished at the time of Stevenson's death, considered to have promised great artistic growth. St. Ives: being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England (1897). Unfinished at the time of Stevenson's death, the novel was completed by Arthur Quiller-Couch.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson, accessed on May 26, 2010, 18.30)

The researcher feels interested in studying the relationship between the adventure imaginations and the content of the novel. Treasure Island (1883) tells the story of young Johnny Hawkins, who lives with his mother and helps her manage the Admiral Benbow inn. One of the tenants is a strange and mysterious Billy Bones, who had been a pirate. After some time had passed, Billy Bones had a frightening visitor, Black Dog. The two pirates begin to quarrel and eventually, Billy Bones is killed and Black Dog is injured. A series of pirates visit and young Mr. Hawkins finds a map in the dead pirate's chest. Johnny realizes that the map is valuable and immediately takes it out of the chest and hides it.

As far as the researcher knows there are no researchers who have analyzed on the same topic the adventure imaginations of the author as reflected in the Treasure Island by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson: an expressive approach.

D.    IDENTIFICATIONS OF THE PROBLEM

The researcher identifies the problem through adventure imaginations of the author which is described in the novel and the story of the Treasure Island by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson. The background of the novel based on the adventure imaginations of the author, the author was sent into mental hospital just because he is different from other people. In the novel, there are some interesting topics that can be found such as at the Admiral Benbow Inn, Black Dog Appears, The Treasure Hunt, etc.

E.     LIMITATIONS OF THE PROBLEM

The researcher limits the study on the adventure imaginations of the author as reflected in the Treasure Island by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson.

F.     FORMULATIONS OF THE PROBLEM

The researcher formulates the study into following question.

1.            What are the adventure imaginations of the author?

2.            What are the characters and characterizations in this novel?

G.    OBJECTIVES OF THE PROBLEM

The objectives of the study are

1.   To describe the adventure imaginations of the author.

2.   To describe the characters and characterizations in this novel.

H.    SIGNIFICANCES OF THE PROBLEM

This thesis is expected to give some benefits as follows:

1.   For the researcher

It will give adventure on the way to analyze a novel. It is expected to give contributions to develop literary works study.

2.   For the reader

It becomes the additional important and knowledge. The reader will understand the story of the novel better.

3.   For the other researcher

It gives more information especially about literary works written by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson and inspiration to other researcher.

I.       PRESENTATION

In the presentation, the researcher presents several main part mainly: title, discipline, background of the study, identifications of the problems, limitations of the problem, formulations of the problems, objectives of the study, significances of the study, presentation, theoretical review, research method, schedule of research, and references.

J.      THEORETICAL REVIEW

In this theoretical review, the researcher presents biography of the author, theory of character and characterization, theory of adventure, and theory of expressive approach.

1.   Biography of the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson was born November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the only son of respectable middle-class parents. Throughout his childhood, he suffered chronic health problems that confined him to bed. In his youth, his strongest influence was that of his nurse, Allison Cunningham, who often read Pilgrim's Progress and The Old Testament to him. In 1867, Stevenson entered Edinburgh University as a science student, where it was tacitly understood that he would follow his father's footsteps and become a civil engineer. However, Robert was at heart a romantic, and while ostensibly working towards a science degree, he spent much of his time studying French Literature, Scottish history, and the works of Darwin and Spencer.

In the fall of 1873, Stevenson fell ill, suffering from nervous exhaustion and a severe chest condition. His doctor ordered him to take an extended period of rest abroad. For the next six months, he convalesced in the South of France, and worked on essays. On his return to Edinburgh, he spent much of his time writing book reviews and articles and experimenting with short stories. He earned a name for himself in journalism and his pieces began appearing in the distinguished journal such as The Fortnightly Review. While establishing his name as a writer, Stevenson met an American married woman, Fanny Vandergrift Osbourne, who was ten years his senior. Osbourne had traveled to Europe in an attempt to escape her estranged husband's influence. For three years, Stevenson, who was still in ill health, continued his relationship with her and eventually followed her to San Francisco, where she divorced her husband and married Stevenson in May 1880.

In 1878, Stevenson published An Inland Voyage, which recounts a canoeing holiday in Belgium. In August 1880,the Stevensons returned to England. He and his wife wintered in the South of France and lived in England from 1880-1887, a period of time was marked by great literary achievement. Stevenson's first novel, Treasure Island, was published in 1883, followed by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and Kidnapped (1886). Stevenson's work was highly popular and he received great critical acclaim.

Stevenson lived at his 300-acre estate, Vailima, in the hills of Apia until his death in 1894. While in Vailima, Stevenson wrote a great deal, completing two of his finest novellas, "The Beach of Falesa" and "The Ebb Tide", two novels, The Wrecker and Catriona, the short stories "The Bottle Imp," "The Isle of voices," and "The Waif Woman." He also published short works under the title Fables. Stevenson left a significant amount of work unfinished, including St. Ives, The Young Chevalier, Heathercat, and Weir of Hermiston, which he worked on enthusiastically until the day of his death. On December 3, 1894 he dictated another installment of the novel, seemed in excellent spirits, and was speaking with his wife in the evening when he felt a violent pain in his head and lost consciousness. Stevenson had suffered a brain hemorrhage and died a few hours later at the age of forty-four.

2.   Theory of Character and Characterization

In analyzing literary work such as a novel, there are basic elements of the novel that must be noticed. The elements are theme, setting, character, and characterization, plot, and point of view. Among those elements, character and characterization become the first important elements in a novel. Subhan (2003:8)

There are some theories about character and characterizations from different sources. The following theories are theories about character and characterization.

a.      Character

Character in literary work refers to the people who are in the story of the novel. In Hornsby’s’ oxford dictionary, character of the literary work means the person performs in a narrative work. A character is an element that has normal quality and a certain trend as expressed of behavior of what character ones.

Character is the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader asking endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expected in what they say the dialogue and by what they do action. Abram (1981:23)

b.      Characterization

Characterization mostly inclines toward the act and the behavior of the characters which is in interpreted by the readers Jones (1986:33) stated that characterization is the clear drawing about someone which is provided in a story. Subhan in his book, A Guide to Literary Criticism (2003:8-15), noted that in deductive novel, the protagonist character is usually the hero or heroine that plays an important role in the story.

Nurgiantoro (2003:165) states that characterization refers to characteristics and attitudes of the characters. Characterization is a certain characteristic and attitudes of the character.

In general, the characterization is a technique in a literary work. By including the characteristic, attitudes, and character characterization can be divided into two ways of techniques: telling and showing technique (Abram, 1981:21). Moreover, the telling and showing technique are the expository technique and dramatic technique by Atenberd and Lewis (Nugiantoro, 1966:56) both techniques have different terms, but basically was the same.

3.   Theory of Adventure

An adventure is an activity that is perceived to involve risky, dangerous or exciting experiences. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, breaking entering, committing misdemeanors, and participating in extreme sports. However, the term also broadly refers to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with physical, financial or psychological risk, such as a business venture, a love affair, or other major life undertakings.

An adventurer is a person who bases his lifestyle or their fortunes on adventurous acts. An adventurer or adventuress is a term that usually takes one of three meanings: one whose travels are unusual and often exotic, though not so unique as to qualify as exploration, one who lives by their wits, and one who takes part in a risky or speculative course of action for profit or position. (http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/adventure)

Adventure experience create psychological a physiological arousal which can be interpreted as negative (e.g. fear) or positive (e.g. flow) and which can become a detriment as per the Yerkes Dodson Law. For some people, adventure becomes a major pursuit in and of itself.

Adventurous activities are typically undertaken for the purposes of recreation or excitement, such as multi-sport adventure racing or traveler’s adventure tourism. However an adventurous activity can lead to gains in knowledge, such as in the case of the numerous pioneers who have explored and charted the Earth and in recent times, traveled into space and Moon. As a more modern example:

a.      Adventure Educations

It makes use of challenging experiences for learning In the context of a narrative, the adventure genre is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations, and a character who lives by their wits and their skill is often called an adventurer.

  

b.      Adventure Novels and Adventure Films

Adventure novels and adventure films are a both prominent genres in their respective media, although the letter has fallen out of the spot ought with the rise of the modern-style action film. The adventure novel is a literary genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as it is main theme. Adventure has been a common theme since the earlier days of written fiction

.

c.      Adventure Games

In games, the term is less consistently applied: the term adventure game is used in reference to computer and video games that make use of exploration, interaction and problem solving, while role playing games use the term adventure in reference to specific preplanned segments of games play.

4.   Theory of Expressive Approach

According to Wellek and Warren (1956:56) the author or writer can influence or take important role for the literature work. The personal life of the writer can be background or reason of the literary work. Therefore, the personality of the author or writer can be established as a method in studying the literary.

In creating a novel the author sees the condition and experience that happened in the life. Literary work especially novel as a fiction story that describe real life where the author adopts the condition of society or a country he lives. Literary criticism is the study, discussion and evaluation in interpretation of literature.

This approach is stressed on the existing of the author as the creator of literary work. How far does the author succeed to express his or her ideas? Because of that, this approach is more specific. The base of the study is succeeding of the author in expressing his or her big ideas, expression of emotions and how can he composes in a high quality of literary work. (Fananie, 2000: 112-113)

K.     RESEARCH METHODS

In this study, uses the descriptive method to analyzed and describe the crucial aspect of the research method of the study including the type of study, data collecting method, and the data analyzing.

1.  The Type of Study

This study is categorized into a library research, since all data sources are taken from libraries. The researcher has two sources. They are primary sources and secondary sources. The primary source in the Treasure Island by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson and it also becomes the subject of the research. It consists of 224 pages and published by London: Cassell and Company while the object of the study is the theory of expressive approaches that supporting the subject of the research. The secondary sources are some books in the library and internet sources.

The research method is an effort to discover, develop. And examine which is done by using scientific methods. (Sutrisno,1997:3). This research belongs to the library research. It means that the writer visits some libraries to collect the main data and supporting data. The main source of this research is taken from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson and the supporting data are taken from books and electronics devices especially internet to support the analysis. This research has subject and object. The subject of the research is a novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson. The object of the research is the adventure imaginations of the author.

2.  Data Collecting Method

Data collecting method is done trough literary study to get the factual data. The data collection will be taken by documentary. In this approach, the researcher uses critical reading and documentation for collecting the data.

a.      Critical Reading

The researcher needs the novel carefully and repeatedly to understand the story of the novel better and gets the meaning of the story. The researcher has to find, study, and collect some references of theory in library to support the analysis.

The researcher also searches for the personal adventure imagination of the author that is taken from related books and electronics sources, because the parts of this novel based on the author’s adventure imagination.

 

b.      Documentation

The researcher takes a note on the adventure imaginations of the author that he was sent into mental institution and the. The researcher takes a note the result of observation to set the data.

3.  The Data Analyzing

This research uses the descriptive qualitative method. The descriptive qualitative method is a method that the data collected are words, pictures, and not numbers. According to Moelong (2002:6) in descriptive method, the data collected are words, pictures, notes private, video tape, formal document, and they are not a group of numbers. It means that the data is kind of description and not a number. After the data are gathered, they will be analyzed and interpreted by using the theory of M.H Abrams.  

REFERENCES

Abrams, M.H. 1981. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Inc

Fananie, Zaenuddin, 2000. Telaah Sastra. Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University Press

Hadi, Sutrisno.1997.Methodology Research. Yogyakarta. Andi off set

Hornsby, A.S. 1995. Oxford Adventured Learner’s Dictionary. Great Britain: Oxford University Press

Moelong, Lexy J. 2002. Metode Penelitian Kualitatif. Bandung. PT Remaja Posda Karya

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 2002. Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada Univ. Press

Stevenson, R.L. 1883.  Treasure Island. United Kingdom. London: Cassell and Company

Subhan, Bustami. 2010. A Guide to Literary Criticism. Yogyakarta: Debut Press

Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren: 1956. Theory of Literature. New York: A Harvest Book Harcourt, Brace and World