ABSTRACT
Gustiani, Noor Halifah. 2016. An Analysis of Symbol and Theme in Ernest Hemingway’s Short Story Entitle “Cat in the Rain”. S-1. Thesis. English Department. Faculty of Teacher Training and Education. Mulawarman University. Advisor: (1) Iwan Setiawan S. Pd, M. Pd, (2) Syamdianita, S. Pd, M. Pd
Short story is a kind of fiction that has a quite short plot, small number of character and a few places and time as setting. When someone read a short story, he/she does not read only for pleasure but usually asking: what the author want to say in his short story and how the author highlights the attitude of each characters, plot, etc. This is why the researcher attempted to describe the symbol to find out what the meaning of the stories written by the author. And also the researcher wants to find out the theme to know basic idea of the story which the author raised in his short story. The researcher chose Hemingway’s short story to be analyzed because his distinctive writing style is characterized by minimalism short and discouraging style of the real situation (understatement).
The purposes of this study were (1) To know the types of symbols used in Ernest Hemingway’s short story; (2) To know the types of theme used in Ernest Hemingway’s short story; (3) To know the relationship between symbols and theme in Ernest Hemingway’s short story.
The design of this study is descriptive qualitative design because the researcher wants to describe the symbols, theme and the relationship between symbols and theme in Ernest Hemingway’s short story. In this study, the researcher used Ernest Hemingway’s short story entitle “Cat in the Rain”. It was taken from internet site. And also, in analyzing the data, the researcher used a flow model analysis proposed by Miles and Huberman. The process went from data collection, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification.
The results of the study showed that: (1) Types of symbols used in Ernest Hemingway’s short story entitle “Cat in the Rain” are color symbol, nature symbol, weather symbol, animal symbol, human body part symbol, clothes symbol, object symbol and setting symbol; (2) Type of theme used in Ernest Hemingway’s short story entitle “Cat in the Rain” is organic theme (moral) about isolation as unsatisfied emotional desire; and (3) There is relationship between symbols and theme used in Ernest Hemingway’s short story entitle “Cat in the Rain”. The symbol refers the author’s attitude in conveying the story of a wife whose rights are not fulfilled by her husband. And then, the theme found in “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway is about isolation. Therefore, it can be stated that symbols and theme found in “Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway have closed relationship.