THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DARK HUMOR AS REVEALED BY FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY IN J.K. ROWLING’S HARRY POTTER SERIES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
EKA UTAMI NINGSIH
Student Number : 044214074
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2010
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DARK HUMOR AS REVEALED BY FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY IN J.K. ROWLING’S HARRY POTTER SERIES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
EKA UTAMI NINGSIH
Student Number : 044214074
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2010
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PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN KARYA
Saya menyatakan dengan sesungguhnya bahwa skripsi yang saya tulis ini tidak memuat karya atau bagian lain kecuali yang telah disebutkan dalam kutipan dan daftar pustaka sebagai layaknya karya ilmiah.
Yogyakarta, 27 Februari 2010
Eka Utami Ningsih
Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; Whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; In great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest. (Charles Dickens)
Because every wasted day becomes a wasted chance You’re gonna wake up feeling sorry Because life won’t wait I guess it’s up to you (Simple Plan)
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For My Dad and Mom
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My biggest love and gratitude goes to Allah SWT, the only reason I am alive, the only reason I am the way that I am now. I thank Him for every way He has shown me in finishing another chapter of my life.
I would like to express my love and gratitude for these following people without whom I will not be able to get to the point where I am now:
I would thank advisor Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. for her intellectual insight, her faith in me and for being so patient to me. I truly appreciate her guidance, advice and support in the process of making this thesis. I would thank my co-advisor
Modesta Luluk Artika Windrasti, S.S. for her guiding and understanding. I would also like to thank all of the lectures and staffs of the Department English Letters for helping me in all occasion, and to the staffs of USD library for helping me finding so much information.
I dedicated this hard work to my parents, Achmad Arifin and Sudjiah Sudiro for guiding me, for their never-ending love and endless prayer for me and encouraging me to finish everything that I have started. I just could not thank them enough. I thank them for always having the faith in me.
My gratitude also goes to all my best friends; the MIAs, Elizabeth Nita,
Danita Irianti, Arini Wulandari, Bertha Yenni Findriana and Yuli Satyawati for the unforgettable moment we have created in this past 5 years. I thank Kharisma
Anggraini, Heny Puspasari, Ikhwan Ruslianto, Angga Fotolover and Juhendro for the
vi time we have spent from elementary school up to the bitter sweet time we have in
Yogyakarta. Then, I thank all of my 4C boarding house mates, Mayang, Mba Linda,
Rina, Mba Indra, Winnie, Reno, Trie, Via, Anggie, Mila and Tia for helping me remembering there is no the better place but home and their unbreakable bond of sisterhood.
Eka Utami Ningsih
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ...... i APPROVAL PAGE ...... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE...... iii MOTTO PAGE ...... iv DEDICATION PAGE ...... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... viii ABSTRACT...... ix ABSTRAK ...... x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...... 1 A. Background of the study ...... 1 B. Problem Formulation...... 5 C. Objectives of the Study ...... 5 D. Definition of Terms...... 6
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ...... 8 A. Review of Related Studies ...... 8 B. Review of Related Theories ...... 10 C. Theory of Character ...... 10 1. Theory of Characterization ...... 12 2. Theory of Humor ...... 14 3. Theory of Dark Humor ...... 16 D. Theoretical Framework...... 19
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY...... 20 A. Object of the Study ...... 20 B. Approach of the Study...... 22 C. Method of the Study...... 23
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS...... 26 A. The Description of Fred and George Weasley’s Characteristics ...... 27 1. Identical and Inseprable...... 27 2. Amusing...... 29 3. Wicked Sense of Humor ...... 34 4. Rude Attitude...... 36 B. How Fred and George Weasley’s Characteristics Reveal Dark Humor ...... 38 C. The Significance of Dark Humor in Harry Potter Series ...... 45
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION...... 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 51
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ABSTRACT
EKA UTAMI NINGSIH. The Significance of Dark Humor as Revealed by Fred and George Weasley in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.
Character is one of the important elements in literary works as well as humor since humor is one of the important parts of life. Literary works without humor is the same as a life without passion; it is impossible, no matter how gloomy or dark the story of a novel is. Humor is various, one example is dark humor; it is a kind of humor which is morbid, ironic, and grotesquely comic. In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Fred and George Weasley are described as the twin characters with a sense of humor. By analyzing the characteristics of the twin, their humor can be concluded as dark humor. There are three problems that are formulated in this study. First, related to the characterization of Fred and George Weasley as the minor characters. Second, related to how the characteristics and the humor of Fred and George Weasley can be considered as dark humor. The third and the last are discussing what the significance of dark humor in Harry Potter series is. This study uses the formalistic approach. Therefore, some literary theories are used to answer the first problem and the second problem and including the dark humor theory. Based on the analysis, the results of the study are as follows. Firstly, it can be concluded that the character of Fred and George Weasley is not only minor but also flat. They are described as amusing twin having wicked-sense of humor, rude attitude and identical appearance as well as inseparable. Dark humor has four basic elements that are further used to prove that the humor of Fred and George Weasley is containing dark humor. The first element is insensitivity which is found from the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley who is amusing in all situations. Second is paradox which can be seen from their characteristic as a couple with wicked-sense of humor. It is considered as paradox because in a time, their humor is containing two contrary features which are wicked and amusing in the same time. Third is cruelty, their characteristics as a couple with rude attitude influences their humor which can cause harm or put someone’s safety in danger. The last is absurdity which can be found from the whole characteristics of the twin. In summary, some dark humor’s elements, such as insensitivity, paradox, cruelty and absurdity that are found in the humors that are revealed by Fred and George Weasley in Harry Potter series proves that their humors are containing dark humor. Moreover, it proves that dark humor has a very significant role in influencing the atmosphere in Harry Potter series.
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ABSTRAK
EKA UTAMI NINGSIH. The Significance of Dark Humor as Revealed by Fred and George Weasley in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series. Yogyakarta: Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.
Tokoh merupakan salah satu elemen penting dalam karya sastra begitu juga dengan humor karena humor merupakan salah satu bagian penting dalam kehidupan. Karya satra tanpa humor sama halnya dengan hidup tanpa gairah; hal tersebut sangatlah tidak mungkin, tidak perduli seberapa sedih atau kelam sebuah cerita novel. Terdapat beberapa jenis humor dan salah satu contohnya adalah humor kelam; yaitu humor yang mengandung hal-hal mengerikan, ironis dan keaneah-keanehan lucu. Dalam novel seri Harry Potter karya J.K. Rowling, Fred dan George Weasley adalah tokoh kembar yang memiliki sifat humoris. Dengan menganalisa karakteristik si kembar akan ditemukan bahwa humor mereka bisa dikategorikan sebagai humor kelam. Terdapat tiga masalah yang dirumuskan dalam studi ini. Yang pertama berhubungan dengan penokohan Fred dan George Weasley sebagai tokoh minor. Kedua berhubungan dengan bagaimana karakteristik dan humor Fred dan George Weasley bisa dikategorikan sebagai humor kelam. Ketiga dan terakhir membahas tentang signifikansi humor kelam dalam seri Harry Potter. Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan formalistik. Karenanya, beberapa teori sastra digunakan untuk menjawab masalah pertama dan kedua termasuk teori humor kelam. Berdasarkan analisis yang dilakukan, hasil dari studi adalah sebagai berikut. Pertama, bisa disimpulkan bahwa tokoh Fred dan George Weasley tidak hanya tokoh minor tapi juga datar. Mereka digambarkan sebagai saudara kembar yang lucu, humor jahat, sikap yang kasar, dan sangat identik serta tidak terpisahkan satu sama lain. Humor kelam memiliki empat elemen dasar yang kemudian digunakan untuk membuktikan bahwa humor Fred dan George Weasley memiliki unsur-unsur humor kelam. Elemen pertama adalah ketidaksensitifan yang bisa dibuktikan dari karakteristik Fred dan George Weasley yang suka membuat lelucon, tidak perduli bahwa mereka membuat lelucon di dalam situasi senang, sedih atau bahkan berbahaya. Kedua adalah paradok yang bisa dilihat dari karakteristik mereka sebagai dua orang yang memiliki sifat humoris yang jahat. Hal ini disebut paradok karena dalam humor mereka terdapat dua hal yang saling bertentangan yaitu jahat dan lucu dalam waktu yang bersamaan. Ketiga adalah kekejaman, karakteristik mereka sebagai dua orang dengan sikap yang kasar mempengaruhi humor mereka yang bisa melukai dan membahayakan seseorang.Yang terakhir adalah kemustahilan atau keabsurban yang bisa ditemukan dalam keseluruhan karakteristik si kembar. Kesimpulannya, beberapa elemen humor kelam, seperti ketidaksensitifan, paradok, kekejaman, dan keabsurban yang ditemukan dalam humor yang diciptkan oleh Fred dan George Weasley dalam seri Harry Potter membuktikan bahwa humor mereka mengandung humor kelam. Kemudian, hal tersebut membuktikan bahwa humor kelam memiliki signifikansi dalam mempengaruhi atmosfir cerita seri Harry Potter.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literary works have important role in real life. From literary works, people can learn about life itself. Literary works consist of moral messages, good values, and affects the way of people seeing life. However, the wrong interpretation toward literary works may result something that is bad in the way of people live in the world, even if the literary work is already considered as a good work. That is why, before people apply anything that they got from literary works to their lives, it is good for them to understand the literary works well first.
Novel is one of the forms of literary works. To understand the novel deeply, people should pay attention to the elements of the novel. They are useful in order to understand the meaning of the story. The elements such as the plot, character and point of view help us to understand the story in detail. Through the elements of the novel, people will sense the feeling, get the idea and values and know the conflicts and the problems which occur in the novel.
Here the writer sees that as one of the novel elements, character has a significant role to show the qualities of the novel. In novel, the author can talk about the character as well as through them or can arrange for us to listen when they talk to themselves (Forster, 1974: 58). According to Abrams in A Glossary of
Literary Terms (1993: 23) characters are the people presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral,
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dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action.
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series are a kind of phenomenon in literary field, not only in England where for the first time the book was published, but also worldwide. As a part of literature, a lot of papers, articles, thesis, and etc, have been written to discuss Harry Potter series. They discuss the intrinsic elements, such as the plot, character, atmosphere, point of view, up to the elements outside the novel, such as religion, social structure, social issues, etc. Even if, after the seventh and the last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, was published, the euphoria around Harry Potter series does not stop, or perhaps, it will continue as long as there are readers who still keep reading the books.
That is why the writer chose Harry Potter series to be her object of discussing in her undergraduate thesis. The more the writer reads the books, the more she finds interesting things to be discussed. Especially, the characters, in the novel, the writer sees that as one of the intrinsic elements, character is one of the interesting things that she can discuss. According to the writer as the reader, each character that appeared in Harry Potter series always has its own unique characteristics. It is does not matter, whether the character is major or minor.
The articles that discuss characters in Harry Potter series mostly discuss the major characters, such as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald
Weasley. The reason is that the major characters have more interesting qualities of characteristics to be discussed. However, in literary works we can find some kinds of characters. E.M. Forster, in Aspects of the Novel (1974: 46-54), introduced 3
popular new terms about type of characters; they are flat and round characters. A flat character, Forster says, is built around ‘a single idea of quality’ and is presented without much individualizing detail, and therefore can be fairly adequately described in a single phrase or sentence. A round character is complex in temperament and represented with subtle particularity; such as a character, it is difficult to describe with any adequacy as a person in real life, and like real persons, is capable of surprising us.
In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series the characters of Fred and George
Weasley are the examples of minor characters but they are also prominent characters. They take a role in the whole story as the characters that have the importance in revealing humor. Are they the only characters that reveal humor in
Harry Potter series? The answer is no. Humor has an important role in Harry
Potter series. That is why J.K. Rowling needs more than Fred and George
Weasley to gain humor in Harry Potter series. A literary critic, A.N. Wilson, a columnist for London Evening Standard, in ‘The Sunday Times’ states “There are not many writers who have J.K’s Dickensian ability to make us turn the pages, to weep – openly, with tears splashing – and a few pages later to laugh, at invariably good jokes…”
(http://entertaiment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/a rticle2139573.ece, 2007). That statement proves that the humor that J.K Rowling created in Harry Potter series can be considered as a good humor, and Fred and
George Weasley have a role in gaining it and make them as the prominent characters. 4
Moreover, the characters of Fred and George Weasley are not only minor characters but also flat characters. They are static and not dynamic. They are remaining and not changed by circumstances; they move through circumstances.
However, in novel that is complex often requires flat characters as well as the round characters which have many realistic traits and are relatively fully developed by the author (Forster, 1974: 49). The similar thing is also stated by
James Patrick Kelly in his essay You and Your Character (1991) that every story needs some flat characters and many successful stories, for instance Charles
Dickens’ Christmas Carol, have nothing but flat characters. In the other words, as flat characters, Fred and George Weasley are not supposed to be considered as just the static and not dynamic characters which are not important and much closer to the word ‘boring’. E.M. Forster emphasized this matter that flat characters are not in themselves as big achievement as round ones, and also that they are best when they are comic. A serious or tragic flat character is apt to be a bore (1974: 50). From that statement, the writer can conclude that the characters of Fred and George Weasley are in the best zone of flat characters, they are not boring at all. As the opposite, they offer the humor toward the Harry Potter series.
Shortly, it will be interesting to discuss humor as represented on Fred and
George Weasley’s characteristics. Through the characteristics of Fred and George
Weasley the writer will be lead to a kind of humor that they reveal. From some of their characteristics and the way they reveal humor in Harry Potter series, the writer can see that somehow their humor can be considered as dark humor.
According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, Dark humor which 5
is originally known as black humor for the first time is translated from French, humour noir, this kind of humor is marked by the use of morbid, ironic, or grotesquely comic episodes that ridicule human folly (1995: 144). In addition, the reason why the writer chose to analyze the whole series of Harry Potter is because Fred and George Weasley are minor characters, so they are only appearing in certain settings which is not much in a single book of the series, and they are also flat characters which are not changing from the very first of the series up to the end of the series, so if the writer analyze thes whole series, it will not make any differences for her as if she analyzes a single book of the series.
However, by analyzing the whole series she will have a broad scope of data about the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley.
B. Problem Formulation
1. What are the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley?
2. How do Fred and George Weasley’s characteristics reveal dark humor in
Harry Potter series?
3. What is the significance of dark humor in Harry Potter series?
C. Objectives of the Study
This thesis is made to identify the characteristics of Fred and George
Weasley then to prove that their characters are not only minor characters but also flat characters. Besides, the objective of the study is also to find out that their characteristics are able to reveal humor in the story and make their characters as 6
the prominent minor characters. Later, by discussing those things the writer will be able to find out what kind of humor they reveal in the series. So, the reader of
Harry Potter series will be able to understand more about the characteristics of
Fred and George Weasley and their humor.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding and to help the readers understand the study, there are several terms that have to be clarified.
1. Character
According to Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms (1993: 23) characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action.
2. Dark Humor
According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, Dark
Humor or Black Humor is a kind of humor which is marked by the use of morbid, ironic, or grotesquely comic episodes that ridicule human folly (1995: 144). The term of Black Humor for the first time is introduced by the French Surrealist
Andre Breton which is published in his Anthologie de l’humour noir in 1940. The reason why the writer prefers Dark Humor rather than Black Humor as the title of her undergraduate thesis because as Breton said ‘until then the term had meant nothing, unless someone imagined jokes about black people’ 7
(http://www.answers.com/topic/anthology-of-black-humor), so to avoid ambiguity of the term Black Humor the writer prefers Dark Humor.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
E. Review of Related Studies
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series have redefined commercially success since the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which in American version entitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was published in June 26,
1997. Since that day, Rowling has drawn surprise and even criticism. A lot of essays about the novels were written. Those essays discuss almost all of the elements of fiction that make up in Harry Potter series. The writer has looked for some essays that discuss Fred and George Weasley character and their relation to the humor in Harry Potter series.
Below is one the essay about the character Fred and George Weasley in
Harry Potter series written by Lisa Waite Bunker. Bunker herself is a librarian for the Columbus Branch of the Pima County Public Library in Tucson, Arizona. She is also an editor for some Harry Potter fan sites, for example is Accio Quote! and
Harry Potter Lexicon which are already praised and admitted by critics and even
J.K. Rowling herself. Bunker’s writing entitled Fred and George Weasley concerns about Fred and George Weasley as the characters who are significant in revealing humor in Harry Potter series.
Mischief managed! The Weasley twins are the staunch enemies of pretension, authority, and pessimism. Their weapons? A pointed, wicked sense of humor and inventive, original charmwork coupled with a good business sense (Bunker, http://hp-lexicon/HPL Fred and George Weasley.mht).
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Based on Bunker’s opinion about the characteristics of Fred and George
Weasley, the writer agree that revealing humor is the main role of them.
Moreover, in her writing, Bunker indicated small pieces about what kind of humor that the Twins reveal; it is a kind of wicked sense of humor. Besides that, Bunker also mentioned that ‘inventive’ is one of the characteristics of Fred and George
Weasley. This information, indeed very important for the writer, and perhaps this information can be used for the further analysis; about the characteristic and humor that related to the Fred and George Weasley characters.
Here, the writer also put another article which discussed the genre of
Harry Potter. This article is taken from New York Times published on July 16,
2005 written by Michiko Kakutani, she is a reporter for New York Times since
1979, and since 1983 she became a highly influential literary critic for New York
Times.
In addition to being a bildungsroman, of course, the Harry Potter books are also detective stories, quest narratives, moral fables, boarding school tales and action-adventure thrill rides, and Ms. Rowling uses her tireless gift for invention to thread these genres together, while at the same time taking myriad references and tropes (borrowed from such disparate sources as Shakespeare, Dickens, fairy tales, Greek myths and more recent works like "Star Wars") and making them her own (Kakutani,http://www.nytimes.com/books/16choc.html?n=top/reference/ TimesTopic/People/R/Rowling.J.K)
That article is not discussing about humor in Harry Potter series.
However, it does not mean that humor is not part of Harry Potter series. Kakutani just concerned on main genres that J.K. Rowling had adopted from some previous author; such as Dickens and Shakespeare. Rowling also adopted some characters from fairy tales and myths, especially Greek Myths related to the ‘magic’ 10
characters that Rowling developed in Harry Potter series. The writer uses this information as the support for her opinion humor in Harry Potter series is less important, and the characters that have importance in revealing humor also less important, and well known as the minor characters.
Different from those two studies above, the writer is focusing in Fred and
George Weasley characters as the characters which are prominent in revealing humor in Harry Potter series, plus the writer is focusing to the humor much deeper. The writer tries to find out what kind of humor that Fred and George
Weasley reveal in the series.
F. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character
Character is one of the elements of novel that has a significant role to show the qualities of that novel. According to Abrams in A Glossary of Literary
Terms (1993: 23) characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action.
Characters in a novel are divided into ‘major’ and ‘minor’ or ‘secondary’ character based on the role the character serves in the novel (Henkle, 1977: 87-
89). Major can be the center of the story. He or she is the most important character in the story. Usually, the acts of the story are focused on this character from the beginning to the ending part. The core of the story is highlighted to these 11
character’s experiences. While minor or secondary characters appear in a certain setting, just necessarily to become the background for the major characters. Their roles are less important than those of the major characters because the focal experiences of the novel are taken place among the major characters (1977: 23).
According to E.M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel in fiction you will encounter two types of characters called “round” and “flat” (1974: 46-54): a. Round Characters
Round characters are usually the major figures in a story. They have many realistic traits and are relatively fully developed by the author. For this reason they are often given the names hero or heroin. Round characters possess many individual and unpredictable human traits they may be considered as dynamic; that is, they demonstrate their capacity to change or to grow (Forster,
1974: 51-54). b. Flat Characters
Flat characters are essentially undistinguishable from their group or class.
Therefore they are not individual, but representative. They are usually minor characters, although not all minor characters are flat. They are mostly useful and structural in the stories. Usually they stay the same; they are static, and not dynamic like round characters. They are not developed, and because they are not central to the plot they do not change or grow (Forster, 1974: 46-50).
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2. Theory of Characterization
According to Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 20), characterization is a process that is used by the author to create a character. The author cannot illustrate directly all about the character in describing them because it will make the story long and boring. Therefore, the reader in order to understand the character, have to make a conclusion by themselves about the character from a story.
Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen introduced nine ways of how author reveals the character’s personality to the readers: a. Personal Description
It is about the description of a person’s appearance and clothes from the author’s point of view. The person appearance can be description of face, skin, eyes, and so on. The author can describe clearly using his point of view about what the characters are alike and he or she can also tell the readers the details about the characters (Murphy, 1972: 161). b. Character as Seen by Another
Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe him or her through the eyes and opinion of another (Murphy, 1972: 162). The other characters in the story tell what they see from the other characters that they encounter. c. Speech
The author can give us an insight into the other character of one of the person in the book through what that person says. Whenever a person speaks, 13
whenever he is in a conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving us clues to his character (Murphy, 1972: 164). d. Past Life
By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life, the author can give us a clue to events that have help to shape a person’s character (Murphy,
1972: 166). This can be done by direct comment by the author through the person’s thought in his conversation or through the medium of another person. e. Conversation of Others
The author can give us clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about him (Murphy, 1972:
167). f. Reaction
The author can give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situation and events. By this characterization the reader might expect to find the quality of the characters in dealing with various situations and events they encounter (Murphy, 1972: 168). g. Direct Comment
The author can describe one’s character direction. It is possible for the author to describe by commenting a person’s character in the story directly.
Usually the author gives is opinion about the character in the story itself (Murphy,
1972: 170).
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h. Thoughts
The author can give direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about.
(Murphy, 1972: 171). i. Mannerisms
The author can describe one’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies that may also tell us something about his character (Murphy, 1972: 172).
3. Theory of Humor
According to Roberts and Jacobs (1987: 254- 255), there is no two critics agree on what exactly makes people laugh, but all agree that laughter is essential in a person’s psychological well-being. Laughter is an unpredictable action; what a person finds amusing today will not move him or her tomorrow. The causes of laughter are complicated and difficult to analyze and isolate. While scholars still believe in theories of superiority and hostility and of surprise and incongruity, the twenty-first century's mass media provides the world with so many different kinds of humor that few scholars try to make observations about all humor. Instead, they study humor to gain insights into their particular areas of expertise.
For obvious reasons, performers, comedians, public speakers, and advertisers are interested in the features or the characteristics of humor. They want to know what makes people laugh so that they can create and re-create such situations. The historian Joseph Boskin (1997: 180) collects joke cycles, what he calls comic zeitgeists, and uses their popularity as data for revealing Americans' preoccupations and attitudes. 15
Modern literary critics often focus on this kind of humor as they work with deconstructionism, postmodernism, and magical realism. They have long defined satire (which often includes elements of irony and wit) as humor designed for the specific purpose of convincing readers and viewers of the need for some kind of action or a change in attitude and beliefs. On the other hand, black humor or dark humor (also referred to as gallows humor, absurd humor, existentialism, and film noir) illustrates the futility of looking for easy and neat answers to the tragedies of life. In such humor, the lines between fantasy and reality and between tragedy and comedy keep shifting. People laugh because they do not know what else to do. The laughter is itself a testament to the strength of the human spirit in showing that people can laugh in spite of bewilderment, death, and chaos.
Linguists, especially computer programmers working with artificial intelligence and translation, study jokes because their abbreviated scripts leave listeners to fill in the mundane details that "go without saying." Many jokes provide an even greater challenge for computers because they are designed to lead listeners to interpret the story along mundane lines, but then comes the climax or the punch line, which makes listeners laugh in surprise as they realize they have been led "down the garden path."
As indicated by these examples, the humor research of the future is likely to focus on particular kinds of humor as created and received by individuals in particular situations. And as the world grows smaller and people are forced to communicate with and adapt to people with different customs and beliefs, there will probably be increased interest in understanding both the bonding and the out- 16
bonding as well as the release of frustration that comes when people laugh together. (http://science.jrank.org/pages/9718/Humor-Other-Views.html)
4. Theory of Dark Humor
Initially the term of Dark Humor is introduced by the French Surealist
Andre Breton. This term is used in his book, entitled Anthologie de l’humour noir in 1940. That is why, the first time the term is translated into English, the target language uses Black Humor as the translation from the word ‘noir’ which means black (color). However, the term of Black Humor is containing ambiguity since people think that Black Humor is related to black people, just as what Breton said
‘until then the term had meant nothing, unless someone imagined jokes about black people’ (http://www.answers.com/topic/anthology-of-black-humor). So, to avoid any ambiguity, today people prefer to use the term of Dark Humor rather than Black Humor, it is proven that some modern books that are recently published are using the term of Dark Humor as the reference to l’humour noir in
French language.
According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, Dark
Humor or Black Humor is a kind of humor which is marked by the use of morbid, ironic, or grotesquely comic episodes that ridicule human folly (1995: 144). In
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, it was stated that black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. 17
Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce. For example, Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove; or, How I
Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963) is a terrifying comic treatment of the circumstances surrounding the dropping of an atom bomb, while
Jules Feiffer's comedy Little Murders (1965) is a delineation of the horrors of modern urban life, focusing particularly on random assassinations. The novels of such writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, Joseph Heller, and
Philip Roth contain elements of black humor
(http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0807778.html).
In other words, generally, Dark Humor is expressing insensitivity, paradox, cruelty, absurdity. So, any humor which contains those elements is considered as Dark Humor. a. Insensitivity
Roberts and Jacobs (1987) said in their book, that incongruity can be included as one of the laughter elements along with the tragic farce that is caused by some reasons and insensitivity is a characteristic which is actually on the list. b. Paradox
According to Abrams, paradox is a statement which seems on its face to be self-contradictory or absurd yet turns out to make good sense. Moreover, Abrams explains that paradox encompass all deviations of qualification of common perceptions or commonplace opinions.
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c. Cruelty
Humor which contains violence can be seen as cruel. Especially, the joke that is created which causes harm or put someone’s life in danger or as what Roberts and Jacobs said in their book, Fiction: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, is the part of farce; a condition when a great deal of physical abuse takes places. The incongruity of such situation causes laughter and one’s safety from personal consequence-together with the insulation from pain of the participants-prevents the interference of more grave or even horrified response (1987:254). d. Absurdity
Absurdity, according to Abrams is the situation that has quality of being absurd. A situation which is not reasonable or contains double sense that is grotesquely comic and also irrational and non-consequential (1993:1)
G. Theoretical Framework
The focus of this thesis is on one of the most important elements in the novel, it is character. Just like the writer has explained that the character that will be discussed is not only one character but two characters; they are Fred and
George Weasley. Those characters are created for any circumstances, and the theories above will help the writer to answer the problems that have been formulated. The first is to identify and find out what sort of characters they are, and the second is to find out how the characteristics that have been characterized reveal humor in the series, and then through their humor the writer will be able to 19
find out what kind of humor that they reveal in Harry Potter series. After that the writer will find the significance of that humor in Harry Potter series.
The theories that the writer uses are the theory of character, the theory of characterization, theory of humor, and theory of dark humor. Theory of character will help the writer to identify what types of the character Fred and George
Weasley are, whether they are major or minor and round or flat. The theory of characterization will be useful for the writer in order to find out the characteristics of the characters textually in story. Theory of humor is used because it is related to the significance of Fred and George Weasley in revealing humor. By using this theory, the writer will be able to explain how their characteristics are able to reveal humor in the story. Then after the writer has found out the humor that the characters revealed, by using the theory of dark humor, the writer will be able to find out the type of humor that Fred and George Weasley revealed by using some elements that express dark humor that are contained in their humor and then to find out the significance of dark humor in Harry Potter series. CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter covers three parts. The first is object of the study, second is the approach of the study and the last is the method of the study.
H. Object of the Studies
The literary work that will be analyzed is a novel written by J.K. Rowling entitled Harry Potter. Actually, Harry Potter is divided into seven series; the first is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone first published on June 26, 1997, second is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets first published on July 2,
1998, third is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban first published on July 8,
1999, the fourth is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire first published on July 8,
2000, three years later on June 21, 2003 the fifth book is published entitled Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, on July 16, 2005 the sixth book published with the title Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, two years later on July 21,
2007, the seventh as the last book of Harry Potter series published with the title
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. All of the books are written in English language and published by Bloomsbury Publishing London. The series has been translated into 65 languages; the first translation was into American English.
Subsequently the books have seen translations in languages as diverse as
Ukrainian, Hindi, Bengali, Welsh, Indonesian and Vietnamese. The first volume has been translated into Latin and even Ancient Greek
(http://www.bloomsbury.com/books/list.aspx?cat=hp&p=2).
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The popularity of the Harry Potter series have been translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related license holders. The books have sold over 325 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros., all of which have been successful in their own right with the first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, ranking number four on the inflation‐unadjusted list of all‐time highest grossing films and the other four Harry Potter films each ranking in the top 20. (www.biographyonline.net/writers/j_k_rowling.html).
The story opens with the conspicuous celebration of a normally secretive wizarding world. For many years, it had been terrorized by the evil wizard, Lord
Voldemort. The previous night, on 31 October, Voldemort discovers the Potter family's hidden refuge, killing Lily and James Potter. However, when he attempts to murder their infant son, Harry, the Avada Kedavra killing curse he casts rebounds upon him. Voldemort's body is destroyed, but his spirit survives: he is neither dead nor alive. Meanwhile, the orphaned Harry is left with a distinctive lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, the only physical sign of Voldemort's curse.
Harry is the only known survivor of the killing curse, and Voldemort's mysterious defeat causes the wizarding community to dub Harry "The Boy Who Lived".
However, as his eleventh birthday approaches, Harry has his first contact with the magical world when he receives letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which are delivered by owls. However, his uncle intercepts the letters. On his birthday, Hagrid, Hogwarts' gamekeeper, appears and informs
Harry that he is a wizard and has been invited to attend the school. Each book 22
chronicles one year in Harry's life, which is mostly spent at Hogwarts. There he learns to use magic and brew potions. Harry also learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional hurdles as he struggles through his adolescence,
Voldemort's second rise to power, and the Ministry of Magic's corruption and incompetence. After facing many obstacles, making countless friends, and losing loved ones, Harry Potter confronts the Dark Lord for the last time and wins the battle.
I. Approach of the Study
According to Madden in his book, Exploring Fiction, Writing and
Thinking about Fiction, there are four different perspectives from which to interpret literature: reader-based, text-based, context based, and author-based approaches. In this study the writer uses the text-based approaches; it is formalism approaches. Where as though formalism emphasizing the text, it may interpret the elements of the text through contextual knowledge.
Formalism seeks the objectivity of the text to examine it in isolation from its reader, its context, and its author. New Criticism, the most popular type of formalism, is not new. It was given its name more than half a century ago as a reaction to the older biographical and historical approaches that preceded it.
Though its popularity has now declined, it was the most dominant form of literary criticism in the twentieth century. As the designation “formalism” suggests, this approach closely examines elements of form/ structure and language such as genre, plot, characterization, narration, tone, irony, diction, imagery, metaphor, 23
and symbol. A formalism critic constructs meaning by focusing exclusively on the elements of the text and on the way they work together to form a unified, coherent whole. Because the background, values, and feelings of the reader and the author cannot be objectively evaluated, formalism sees them as irrelevant or erroneous in the construction of a stable meaning. It classifies reliance on a reader’s emotional response as an affective fallacy and reliance on knowledge of an author’s life or intentions as an intentional fallacy (Madden, 2002: 468).
A formalism responses to Harry Potter series, would stick closely to the text of the story. It might examine the elements of the detail character and the characterization; especially, characters Fred and George Weasley; the two characters that become the focus of the study. And by using formalist approach the writer will be able to see through the works clearer and then will help the writer to answer the problems, whereas, the writer will have a kind of limitation; it is only focusing to the text without any influences from outside of the literary work.
J. Method of the Study
In order to complete all sources, the writer conducted library research and internet browsing. This method consisted of two type of sources, primary and secondary sources. As the primary source was the novel written by J.K. Rowling entitled Harry Potter which consisted of seven series. In order to get the deeper understanding about the novels, the writer read the book more than once. And the writer did not only read the books in the English version, but also the books which 24
had been translated into Indonesian language. Beside that as the next step, the writer also looked for some information, especially the analysis about the character Fred and George Weasley by browsing the internet. Some website such as New York Times Online and Harry Potter official websites were the websites in where the writer found a lot of brief analysis about Fred and George Weasley’s characteristics.
The articles written by Lisa Waite Bunker and Michiko Kakutani are used by the writer as the related study. Those articles were read to gain an original topic to be discussed in the thesis.
As the theory, the writer used theory of character, theory of characterization, theory humor, theory of dark humor and theory of plot because the study focused on the character Fred and George Weasley and their significant that related to humor which could be considered as dark humor. And as the approach the writer used the formalistic approach to help the writer to see humor that they revealed.
Moreover, the writer divided the analysis chapter into three parts, first discussed about the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley which had been described in Harry Potter series. In the second of analysis the writer used those characteristics that had been characterized to see how those characteristics revealed humor in the series. Through their humor the writer would be able to find out the type of humor that they revealed by applying the theory of dark humor.
Then, the third part of the analysis the writer will define the significance of Dark
Humor in Harry Potter series. In the last chapter of the thesis, the writer 25
conducted some conclusions that explained briefly the results of the study that the writer had found by analyzing the topic. CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the answers of the problems that have been formulated in chapter one. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley which will answer the problem number one from the problems formulation. In this part, the writer will apply the theory of characterization by Murphy (1972: 161-173). Then the writer will apply theory of character by E.M. Forster (1974: 46-54) and Henkle (1977:
87-89) about the flat character and minor character. The second part covers the discussion which will answer the second problem. It deals with what kind of humor that Fred and George Weasley revealed in the series. To help the writer answers the second problem, the writer will use the theory of humor to find out the humor that may occur in the series. Theory dark humor will be used to review some elements that can be considered as the part of dark humor. The third part covers the discussion which will help the writer to find the significance of dark humor in Harry Potter series.
As additional information there are some acronyms that are used by the writer to make the identification of the quotation easier. Below are the acronyms:
- HP-PS : Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- HP-CS : Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret
- HP-PA : Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- HP-GF : Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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- HP-OP : Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
- HP-HBP : Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- HP-DH : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
A. The Description of Fred and George Weasley’s Characteristics
In Harry Potter series Fred and George Weasley are described as the twins that were born from a very old pure blood wizard family, they are the fourth that were born in that family after Bill, Charlie, Percy Weasley, and after them
Ron and Ginny Weasley were born. Their parents are Arthur and Molly Weasley.
In their childhood time, they live with their parents in the home called “The
Burrow” in the small village near Ottery St. Catchpole, England. However, after they have their own business they move to their own flat above their shop,
Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, at 93 Diagon Alley, London. They entered
Hogwarts two years earlier than Harry Potter, so in the first book their ages are about 13 years old.
1. Identical and Almost Inseparable
Identical is one Fred and George Weasley’s unique characteristics. In the series they are mostly described by the author as identical couple who are hardly to distinguish even by their parents because of their identical appearance:
Uncle Vernon caught her before she hit the floor, and gaped, speechless, at the Weasleys, all of whom had bright red hair, including Fred and George, who were identical to the last freckle. (HP-GF, p.52)
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Moreover, not only their appearance that is identical but also their facial expression. For example is in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in where Harry catches their evil plan toward his cousin:
Fred and George came back into the room carrying Harry's school trunk. They glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. Their faces cracked into identical, evil grins. (HP-GF, p.55)
That quote explains that not only their appearance but even their grins are identical. Besides their appearance and facial expression, they also have the same voice:
‘”Rodent”?’ said yet another familiar voice, and Harry, Ron and Hermione cried out together: ‘Fred!’ ‘No – is it George?’ ‘It’s Fred, I think,’ said Ron, leaning in closer, as whichever twin it was said, ‘I’m not being “Rodent”, no way, I told you I wanted to be “Rapier”!’ (HP-DH, p.359)
Harry, Ron and Hermione are not sure whether it is Fred or George, until the author explains it herself that the speaker from the radio is actually Fred. From some examples above it can be seen that Fred and George Weasley are mostly described as identical in all aspect of their life which is impossible to be distinguished by the other characters in the series.
Fred and George Weasley were created by J.K. Rowling besides being identical, they are also almost inseparable. Since the first book of Harry Potter series they are usually introduced as Fred and George, never see them without another. However, just like what the writer said above, though they are inseparable couple, it does not mean that they never separate, that is why the writer uses the word ‘almost’ inseparable. There are some scenes where they do 29
not appear together. From the whole series, the writer just finds seven scenes where Fred and George are not together.
So, the writer can say that mostly Fred and George Weasley are always together except in those seven scenes. However, since the death of Fred, there is only one scene when Fred and George Weasley are spotted together, it is in the
Great Hall, Harry spots George is kneeling near Fred’s head. After that, there is no more Fred and George Weasley.
2. Amusing
Fred and George Weasley are a couple that always use jokes to express all of their feelings toward something or someone. Basically they do not like all kinds of authority such as government with its conservative hierarchy system or school rule. The reason is simple because those are something that can be considered as something that is serious, should be obeyed, and so close to the word ‘punishment’ if the rule is broken. However, they do not like something that is serious, so in other words, if there is a rule they will tend to break it than to obey it.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, there is a scene where
Dumbledore gives a warning to the whole students that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to be entered:
"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. (HP-PS, p.157)
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After Dumbledore warns the pupils, ‘Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins’. It indicates that he knows that Fred and George
Weasley ever entered the forest. Dumbledore prefers to warn them implicitly rather than do it directly, because he knows that Fred and George Weasley will not obey him. So, he does not want to spend so much energy to warn the twins directly, but he thinks warn them implicitly is enough, and the rest is just let the twin experience it themselves.
In Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, under the new regime in
Hogwarts headed by Dolores Umbridge, there are a lot of new rules in the form of
‘Educational Decree’ which are established. As the writer has said above that even the rule that has been made by Dumbledore, someone who Fred and George
Weasley like, is not obeyed by them. Then, now the rules that are made by
Umbridge, someone that they hate so much, surely would never be obeyed by them. So, when the ‘Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four’ about the disbandment of all organization in Hogwarts is established right after Fred,
George, Harry, Ron, Hermione and some others students form a group to study
Defence Against the Dark Arts, Fred and George look so happy when Harry says that he would continue the group:
'Did you see it?' 'D'you reckon she knows?' 'What are we going to do?' They were all looking at Harry. He glanced around to make sure there were no teachers near them. 'We're going to do it anyway of course,' he said quietly. 'Knew you'd say that,' said George, beaming and thumping Harry on the arm. 'The prefects as well?' said Fred, looking quizzically at Ron and Hermione. 31
'Of course,' said Hermione coolly. (HP-OP, p.354)
It is their basic character to disobey the rule and happy when there are some people joining them. George gives Harry a thump in Harry’s arm after Harry says to continue their group. He already knows that Harry is more and less like them, a rulebreaker. Just like he says 'Knew you'd say that', while Fred is looking Ron and
Herminone ‘quizzically’, because they both are Prefects, who have duty to comply the rules. Breaking the rule right under the Umbridge’s nose is like another challenge for them, and another thing to have fun on.
From those examples above it can be seen that Fred and George Weasley prefer to express their dislikes toward rules and authorities with their jokes.
Furthermore, the writer will discuss more about the examples of how they are using their ability to make jokes to fight for something that they do not like and they use it very frankly, do not care whether it is too harsh or sarcastic. For example is when they do not like what Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell’s opinion about Cedric Diggory:
“I know that, but we can’t prove it,” said Wood bitterly, “And we’ve been practicing all those moves assuming we’re playing Slytherin, and instead it’s Hufflepuff, and their style’s quite different. They’ve got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory —” Angelina, Alicia, and Katie suddenly giggled. “What?” said Wood, frowning at this lighthearted behavior. “He’s that tall, good-looking one, isn’t he?” said Angelina. “Strong and silent,” said Katie, and they started to giggle again. “He’s only silent because he’s too thick to string two words together,” said Fred impatiently. (HP-PA, p.127)
Seeing something seriously is not the basic characteristic of Fred and
George Weasley. In summary, all kinds of serious things are actually the opposite of their interests. Furthermore, their tendency to see something from different 32
perspective makes them as the insensitive couple who do not care to who or to what subject they make fun to. Moreover, they do not care about what might happen to them, the consequences that they will get. They are not sensitive to what the feeling of the person that they made joke on, because basically they do not care at all. They even do not care to what will happen to themselves. All they like to do are making jokes, laughing on it and having fun. They do not like to see something opposite to their basic interest; humor. Sometimes they try to cheer someone who is sad or in pessimism condition, but usually made it worse, because of their insensitive characteristic:
“Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was,” said Fred bracingly. “And he’s been off-color for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly — one swallow — he probably didn’t feel a thing.” “Fred!” said Ginny indignantly. “All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself,” said George. “He bit Goyle for us once!” Ron said miserably. “Remember, Harry?” “Yeah, that’s true,” said Harry. “His finest hour,” said Fred, unable to keep a straight face. “Let the scar on Goyle’s finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory. Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what’s the point of moaning?” (HP-PA, p.276)
Ron is sad because he thinks that his rat, Scabbers, has been eaten by Hermione’s cat, Crookshanks. Fred tries to see a positive thing from the situation by explaining that “It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly — one swallow
— he probably didn’t feel a thing”. However, it does not work, because for Ron, it reminds him about the fact that his rat has been swallowed by a cat, and it is not a good thing at all for him to remember. George tries a different way, he tells Ron one of the fact that he actually hates Scabbers by saying “All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself”. It does not work too, because it makes Ron feels 33
more regretful that he has too much complain to his rat while it was alive. They are so insensitive toward Ron’s feeling, even Fred feels funny when Ron tries to remember the only contribution from Scabbers, ‘“His finest hour,” said Fred, unable to keep a straight face’, Fred is unable to keep himself not to laugh on
Ron’s moaning.
From some examples above it can be seen that Fred and George Weasley always use their ability in creating humor to fight something or someone that they do not like such as Dolores Umbridge with her Educational Decree and her royalty to Government’s rule. That Hogwart’s rules are mostly broken by them is proved by Harry Potter himself in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret that
Fred and George have their own drawer for themselves contains of their record of troubles that they have made (HP-CS, p.132), and the way they express their dislike toward Cedric Diggory in a very sarcastic way. Moreover, for what they do to cheer Ron up about the death of his rat defines their characteristics that hate pessimism and use their ability in creating jokes to deal with it.
In addition, Fred and George Weasley are not only using their jokes to express their dislikes. In several situations, they create jokes just to have fun or to make people feel resentful or annoyed. There is no specific reason behind it but if it is related to their basic characteristics which like humor very much the reason might be just because they like it. For example, when they try to make Ron and
Percy felt resentful by saying something that makes them angry:
"Ron, you've got something on your nose." The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. "Mom -- geroff" He wriggled free. 34
"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins. "Shut up," said Ron. "Where's Percy?" said their mother. "He's coming now." The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it. "Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves --" "Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea." "Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once --" "Or twice --" "A minute --" "All summer --" "Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect. (HP-PS, p.107)
Then when they make joke on the giant squid that lives in the lake not far from the castle:
Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows. (HP- PS, p.285)
Fred and George Weasley like to make joke on everything that is possible to be a joke. From the teacher, their brothers up to the giant squid that seem do not have enough power to ask them to stop as what Percy does.
3. Wicked Sense of Humor
In the previous discussion where the writer discussed how Fred and
George Weasley express their feelings toward something or someone the writer applied some theories of characterization by Murphy, they are personal description, speech, reaction, direct comment, and mannerism. Those are some methods that the writer uses to characterize their characteristics. Moreover, deeply 35
those methods are characterized from certain perspectives; they are, from the direct comment and personal description of the author and from Fred and George characters themselves through their speech, reaction toward something, and their mannerism and habit which are described directly by the author. In this sub category the writer will try to characterize their characteristics in different perspective, it is from the third point of view; it is the opinion of the other characters toward them through the way they see them and the conversation of the other people that say things about them. In the other words, as what Murphy said, instead of describing their character directly, the author prefers to describe them through the eyes of another (1972: 162).
The first example is when Ron tells Harry about how Fred and George
Weasley tried to make jokes on him by giving him an Acid Pops and caused a hole in Ron’s tongue:
“Seen the Fizzing Whizbees, Harry?” said Ron, grabbing him and leading him over to their barrel. “And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven — it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick.” Ron stared broodingly into the Acid Pop box. “Reckon Fred’d take a bite of Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?” (HP-PA, p.217)
From the quote above can be seen that according to what Ron said about them, they have a kind of wicked sense of humor, because sometimes their humor result is something dangerous but they consider it as funny. In Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone when Mrs. Weasley addresses Fred and George to behave, and says something about blowing up toilet, they consider it as funny:
"Now, you two -- this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've -- you've blown up a toilet or --" 36
"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." "Great idea though, thanks, Mom." "It's not funny. And look after Ron." … "Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. "Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." "We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." "George!" "Only joking, Mom." (HP-PS, p.109)
They consider the idea of blowing up the Hogwarts’ toilet is a good and funny idea to do while according to Mrs. Weasley’s opinion there is nothing that can be considered as funny in that matter. In summary, Fred and George Weasley seem to like the idea that sounds funny for them but sometimes dangerous to people.
4. Rude Attitude
In the two previous sub categories, the writer tries to explain the characteristics from their interest in making joke and the way the other characters see them through their personal opinion and conversations. However, in this sub category, the writer tries to find out their characteristics aside from their jokes and the other characters’ opinion toward their jokes but purely from what the author said and how they are described. From some descriptions about them the writer reckons that mostly the author described them as the rude couple:
Harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly. “C’mon, Harry, you’ve never missed the Snitch before.” “There had to be one time you didn’t get it,” said George. “It’s not over yet,” said Fred. (HP-PA, p.196)
Fred and George are trying to comfort Harry after they lost in Quidditch against
Hufflepuff. However, the author used the word ‘roughly’ to describe the way Fred 37
shakes Harry’s shoulder. The similar thing also did by J.K. Rowling in describing them:
Then Wood was speeding toward him, half-blinded by tears; he seized Harry around the neck and sobbed unrestrainedly into his shoulder. Harry felt two large thumps as Fred and George hit them; then Angelina’s, Alicia’s, and Katie’s voices, “We’ve won the Cup! We’ve won the Cup!” (HP-PA, p.338)
To describe the way Wood expresses his happiness toward Harry, the author used the word ‘seized Harry’, however when she described the way Fred and George express their happiness, she described Harry feels two large thumps because Fred and George hit him. Even Wood ever describes them as a pair of human Bludgers.
Wood compares their characteristics to the Bludger, one kind of balls that is used in Quidditch game, the function of Bludger itself is to knock the players off their brooms, and it rockets around the field during the game. It is very similar to the characteristic of Fred and George who like to mess around and disturbing people.
The rudeness characteristic of Fred and George Weasley make them as the characters that tend to use violence in the series. They prefer to do violence to express their feeling, especially their bad feeling, moreover, their bad feeling toward someone that they do not like. For example when they express their anger to Montague who tries to reduce the point of Gryffindor:
'Noticed, have you?' said Fred's voice. He and George had just come down the marble staircase and joined Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ernie in front of the hour-glasses. 'Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points,' said Harry furiously, as they watched several more stones fly upwards from the Gryffindor hour- glass. 'Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break,' said George. 'What do you mean, "tried"?' said Ron quickly. 38
'He never managed to get all the words out,' said Fred, 'due to the fact that we forced him head-first into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor.' Hermione looked very shocked. 'But you'll get into terrible trouble!' 'Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him,' said Fred coolly. 'Anyway… we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble any more.' (HP-OP, p.627)
From the quote above, it can be seen that they do not care or do not realize about their rudeness. While Hermione is described as ‘very shocked’ when she heard about what they had done to Montague, Fred responds it calmly as what the author said ‘coolly’.
B. How Fred and George Weasley’s Characteristics Reveal Dark Humor
As stated in chapter two, according to Henkle in his book, Reading the
Novel, characters in a novel are divided into ‘major’ and ‘minor’ or ‘secondary’ character based on the role the character serve in the novel (1977: 87-89). Major character can be the center of the story. He or she is the most important character in the story. Usually, the acts of the story are focused on this character from the beginning to the ending part. The core of the story is highlighted to these character’s experiences. While minor or secondary characters appear in a certain setting, just necessarily to become the background for the major characters. Their roles are less important than those of the major characters because the focal experiences of the novel are taken place among the major characters (1977: 23).
From the explanation above the writer sees that Fred and George Weasley are minor characters while Harry Potter is the major character. Fred and George 39
Weasley as the minor characters only appear in certain settings while Harry Potter is the character in which the story is highlighted to his experiences.
Besides being minor characters, Fred and George Weasley are also flat characters, E.M. Forster stated in his book, Aspect of the Novel, that in fiction we can encounter two types of characters called ‘round’ and ‘flat’. Fred and George
Weasley are flat characters because as stated by E.M. Forster, they are minor characters. They stay the same; they are static, and not dynamic like round characters. They are not developed, and because they are not central to the plot they do not change or grow (1974: 46-54).
In the previous part of this chapter the writer has found some characteristics of Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter series. As stated above that there are four characteristics that the writer finds to describe what sort of characteristic Fred and George Weasley are. In this second part of this analysis chapter the writer will try to find out how those characteristics are able to reveal dark humor in Harry Potter series.
Before those four characteristics are discussed, the writer prefers to review what dark humor is. According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of
Literature (1995: 144) and Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
(http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0807778.html), dark humor was marked by the use of morbid, ironic, and grotesquely comic which expresses the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. This information will be used by the writer to classify the humors that are revealed by Fred and George
Weasley based on their characteristics. Related to what is stated in Columbia 40
Electronic Encyclopedia, insensitivity, paradox, cruelty and absurdity are some basic elements that are easily found in dark humor. So, to prove that Fred and
George Weasley’s humor is containing dark humor, the writer will try to find this four basic elements in the humor that they revealed.
1. Insensitivity
Fred and George Weasley first characteristic is amusing couple. It defines their tendency to use jokes to express their feeling and can be seen that all of their acts are conducted based on their own ego. There is no external consideration that they use to underlie their action and as the result, all their actions are not containing sensitive feeling toward someone or something that they make jokes to. They do not care to whom they make jokes on, from their parents, brothers, friends, governments, teachers, up to the giant squid. Then, they do not even care what the consequence that they should deal with or the consequence that people should take because of their morbid jokes.
As what Roberts and Jacobs (1987) said in their book, this incongruity characteristic can be included as one of the laughter elements along with the tragic farce that is caused by their insensitivity characteristic and the other basic characteristic of the twin, rude attitude, shows their preference to use violence to express their dislike or their tendency to consider something that is actually dangerous as funny thing and then their preference of using sarcasm to express their feeling without considering the feeling of someone they talk to. This situation is pretty amusing, for example when they want to cheer Ron up because 41
of the death of his rat, Scabbers, but the result is the opposite, and their jokes make Ron’s felling worse.
From the explanation about can be seen that the jokes that Fred and
George Weasley create to express their feeling is containing morbid humor and sarcasm or verbal irony. The morbid humor that they crate and sarcasm that they use to express their feeling are causing insensitivity situation and insensitivity is one of element that is used to mark dark humor in literary work. In the other words, the jokes that Fred and George Weasley are revealed can be considered as dark.
2. Paradox
Paradox according to Abrams is a statement which seems on its face to be self-contradictory or absurd yet turns out to make good sense. Moreover, Abrams explains that paradox encompasses all deviations of qualification of common perceptions or commonplace opinions (1993: 140). In the other words, paradox is always contained two contrary features therefore little strange if they are combined or appeared in the same situation.
Based on Fred and George Weasley’s characteristic as Couple with Joke
Passion who like to express their feeling as a joke while the other characters see it inversely can be seen that there are two contrary features that are contained in that situation. For examples is their tendency to consider dangerous things as funny things or create a joke to deal with serious situation.
"Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore, beaming. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible 42
for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it." (Rowling, HP-PS, 1997: 318)
Just like what Dumbledore has said that the reason why they send a toilet seat is to amuse Harry. No doubt, Fred and George Weasley feel it amusing too. Though
Madam Pomfrey considers it the opposite, she feels it is not hygienic and of course not funny at all. This situation as stated by Roberts and Jacobs is an incongruity situation, because human beings have a sense of what to expect under given condition and anything that violates this expectation may be a cause of laughter (1987: 254).
Fred and George Weasley are characters who like to create jokes, moreover, their jokes are already influenced by their other characteristic which is rude attitude and as the combination of amusing and rude attitude make the other characters see them as characters that have wicked sense of humor. Further, their characteristics as couple with wicked sense of humor makes their jokes can be considered as morbid. Two opposite things which are combined into one strangely creates a new impression and paradox, wicked but amused in the same time. Since paradox is one of the elements of dark humor so any humors that revealed by Fred and George which contained wicked sense are considered as dark humor.
3. Cruelty
Fred and George Weasley are basically described by the author as couple with rude attitude and their jokes are mostly considered by the other characters as morbid or wicked. Because of their rude attitude characteristics, they tend to use violence in every humor that they create. Humor that is contained violence can be 43
seen as cruel thing. Especially, the joke that they crate which causes harm or put someone’s life in danger or as what Roberts and Jacobs said in their book, Fiction.
An Introduction to Reading and Writing, is a farce. A condition can be considered as farce is where a great deal of physical abuse takes place. The incongruity of such situation causes laughter and one’s safety from personal consequences- together with the insulation from pain of the participants-prevents the interference of more grave or even horrified responses (1987:254).
Element of farce clearly can be seen from the products that are invented by Fred and George Weasley for their jokes shop, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes;
Skiving Snackbox. It is a range of sweets that cause the eater ill; each sweet has its own effect to the eater. For example is Nosebleed Nougat, this sweet causes a serious nosebleed to the eater, then Puking Pastilles which will make the eater to vomit. The other product that is contained farce is Punching Telescope that able to give the users a black eye if they squeeze it. The writer finds farce here, seeing a person whose nose is bleeding may cause laughter as long as we ourselves are not that person, for our laughter depends on our being insulted from danger and pain
(Roberts and Jacobs, 1987: 254).
Fred and George Weasley’s interest in joke and their tendency to use violence because of their amusing characteristics and rude attitude make their product which is made for joke contained cruelty. Their joke that is contained cruelty, which is one of the elements of dark humor, expressed by the using of morbid humor and in this matter is in the form of farce.
44
4. Absurdity
Absurdity is the situation that has quality of being absurd. The word absurd itself is usually used to explain situation or thing that is not reasonable or as what Abrams said about absurd in literature is occurred in the double sense that it is grotesquely comic and also irrational and non-consequential (1993:1). In the other words, from the grotesquely quality of absurd, what the writer found that
Fred and George Weasley as the insensitive characters can be considered as absurd. It is because their characteristic which is too insensitive is contradicted with the common characteristics of human being.
Especially about being grotesquely comic and uniqueness, the character of Fred and George Weasley which are mostly described as ‘Fred and George’ by the author in all of the series defines that they are inseparable and extremely identical. From that fact can be seen that the characteristic of Fred and George
Weasley is actually absurd because based on the common sense there is nothing that is extremely identical or two people that always stick together.
In summary, all of the characteristics that have been discussed in the previous sub category of this chapter are contained absurdity. Their preference to use jokes to express their feeling that mostly morbid and wicked are contained insensitivity is absurd. The paradox, that occurs in their jokes, consists of two features which is contradiction from one to the other is double sense that identified by Abrams as one of the absurdity quality. And the last is their characteristics of being identical and inseparable are grotesquely comic and it is 45
one of the qualities to identify absurdity in literary work. Moreover, absurdity is one of the elements which are used to mark dark humor.
C. The Significance of Dark Humor in Harry Potter
In the previous parts of this chapter, the writer has found some characteristics of Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter series. As stated above that there are four characteristics that the writer finds to describe what sort of characteristic Fred and George Weasley are. In the second part, the writer defines how the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley are able to reveal dark humor in Harry Potter. Based on the analysis from the previous parts of this chapter, the writer has found that their humor can be considered as dark humor.
Furthermore, in this third part of this chapter, the writer tries to define the significance of dark humor in Harry Potter series since Fred and George Weasley are two important characters who are especially created for a certain circumstances and in this matter is to reveal humor. In further analysis by using one of the elements of novel, atmosphere, the writer will try to find that dark humor has some significant roles in influencing that element of novel.
Related to the significance of dark humor in influencing atmosphere of
Harry Potter series, dark humor is making this series less gloomy. However, dark humor is appearing without erasing the basic impression of Harry Potter series which is fascinating their readers through its mystery, action-adventure and fantasy genre which is gloomy and dark. Through this dark humor, people are able to laugh on gloomy situation instead of being sad or bewildered. 46
From the explanations above, dark humor is proven to have important role in Harry Potter series. As the characters who reveal dark humor in Harry
Potter, Fred and George Weasley are two important characters with significant roles in the series. Their humor is influencing one important element of the novel, atmosphere, which without that Harry Potter series would never be the same. It proves that though they are flat characters which stay the same and not dynamic they can be considered as significant minor characters.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Humor is one of the life passions. Surely, you cannot live without humor in this world. That is why humor becomes one of the important aspects in literary works since literary works is one of the references about the real things that happen in real world. This fact can be seen from what J.K. Rowling has done to her Harry Potter books. In the plot of this book, you mostly find gloomy situation and too much sad stuff. Even from the first page of the chapter you can feel how sad the life of Harry is, sponging upon his uncle and aunt because of his orphaning and when he finally invited to join Hogwarts, his love is not going to be better.
However, with the appearance of some minor characters that are especially created to bring humor in Harry Potter series , for instance is Fred and
George Weasley, in the same time, it puts some sense to the story of the plot because over all aspects world is impossible to be that sad or that gloomy. Further, there are a lot of kinds of humor and one those is dark humor. In this research, the writer is trying to prove that the humor that Fred and George Weasley created is containing dark humor.
To start proving it, the writer is using the characteristics of Fred and
George Weasley as her references. By using character and characterization theory, writer is able to identify the basic characteristics of Fred and George Weasley.
Those characteristics are Identical and almost Inseparable, Amusing, Wicked
47
48
Sense of Humor, and Rude Attiude. From those characteristics as references, the writer is using theory of humor to identify the humor that they reveal and then followed by the using of theory of dark humor. Dark humor itself is consisting of some basic elements; they are Insensitivity, Paradox, Cruelty and Absurdity. So, any humors that Fred and George reveal that are containing those four elements are considered as dark humor.
Insensitivity element can be found in some of Fred and George
Weasley’s humors. This element is related to their characteristic as a amusing who are using jokes to express any kind of their feelings, from happy, sad, up to disagreement but they do not really care about what the other characters feel toward their jokes whichever those jokes put some people’s lives in danger or hurt their feelings. Well, as long as they are happy with that and making the other characters laugh, they don’t mind.
Paradox in summary is containing two contrary features therefore little strange if they are combined or appeared in the same situation. In this matter, the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley as a couple with Wicked Sense of
Humor can be considered as the part of Paradox. It is because they are creating joke which is wicked and amusing in the same time. In common situation, there is no a wicked stuff that is amusing but in incongruity situations, wicked stuff is possible to be amusing and it is called as Paradox.
Besides, insensitivity and paradox, cruelty is also part of Dark Humor, any humor that is containing cruelty can be considered as dark. From the characteristics of Fred and George Weasley as a couple with Rude Attitude and
49
amusing which make their humor wicked or morbid. Some examples of their humor that is wicked and morbid can be found from some products that they are invented for their joke shop, Weasly’s Wizarding Wheezes. One example is
Nosebleed Nougat; this sweet causes a serious nosebleed to the eater. It is a farce, when in a situation seeing a person whose nose is bleeding causes laughter. This situation is cruel but funny in the same time.
The last element of Dark Humor is absurdity. The word, absurd itself is used to explain situation or thing that is not reasonable or occurred in double sense that is grotesquely comic and also irrational and non-consequential. In short, absurdity is closely related to the three previous elements. From the definition that absurdity is actually non reasonable situation and being too insensitive and too cruel are actually impossible characteristics of a human kind and absurdity is occurred in double sense is related to the definition of Paradox. Further, the characteristics of Fred and George as a Couple with Identical Appearance and
Inseparable is also supporting this absurdity theory since it is impossible to find two people who are extremely identical or inseparable. In short, some dark humor’s elements, such as insensitivity, paradox, cruelty and absurdity, that are found in the humor that are revelead by Fred and George in Harry Potter series proves that their humor are containing dark humor.
After the writer successfully proves that the humor that is created by
Fred and George Weasley is containing dark humor, the writer is able to identify the significance of dark humor in Harry Potter series. In this matter, the writer has found that actually dark humor has a significant role in influencing the 50
atmosphere of Harry Potter series. In other words, without that dark humor the atmosphere of Harry Potter will become much gloomier.
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