ROMANTIC LOVE IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’ THE BEST OF ME NOVEL (2011): A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Compiled As One Of The Requirements To Complete The Strata I Study Department Of English Education School Of Teacher Training Education By: SITI ANIS MAGFIROH A320160187 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION SCHOOL OF TEACHER TRAINING EDUCATION UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH SURAKARTA 2020 APPROVAL ROMANTIC LOVE IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’ THE BEST OF ME NOVEL (2011): A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Publication Manuscript Submitted by: Siti Anis Magfiroh A320160187 Approved by the supervisor to be defended before the Board of Examiners. Supervisor, Dr. M. Thoyibi, MS. NIDN. 0602095901 i ACCEPTANCE ROMANTIC LOVE IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’ THE BEST OF ME NOVEL (2011): A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Publication Manuscript Presented by: Siti Anis Magfiroh A320160187 Defindeed before the Board of Exmaniner 2021 And declared to have met the qualifications. Board of Examiners: 1. Dr. M. Thoyibi, M.S. (……………………………………….) (Head of Examiner) 2. Dr. Abdillah Nugroho, M.Hum. (……………………………………….) (Member I of Examiner) 3. Titis Setyabudi, S.S., M.A. (……………………………………….) (Member II of Examiner) Surakarta, 2021 Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta School of Teacher Training and Education Dean Prof. Dr. Harun Joko Prayitno, M. Hum. NIP. 196504281993030 ii iii ROMANTIC LOVE IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’ THE BEST OF ME NOVEL (2011): A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Abstrak Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi cinta roamtis antara Dawson Cole dan Amanda Collier dalam novel The Best of Me. Penelitain ini adalah penelitian kualitatif. Penelitian ini mengunakan dua jenis data, yaitu data utama dari penelitian ini novel adalah novel The Best of Me dan data yang kedua dari adalah teori termasuk referensi dan data-data yang berkaitan dengan penelitian ini. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah hubungan antara Dawson Cole dan Amanda Collier dapat dikategorikan sebagai cinta yang romantis kerena sudah memenuhi unsur-unsur cinta yang romantis. Unsur-unsur cinta yang romantis yang tedapat didalam penilitian terdapat keintiman, gairah, dan komitmen antara Dawson dan Amanda. Kata Kunci: Cinta Romantis, Sosiologi Sastra, The Best of Me. Abstract This research aims to identify the romantic love between Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier in the novel The Best of Me. This research is qualitative research. This study uses two types of data the main data from this research is the novel The Best of Me, and the second data from the theory, including references and data related to this study. This result of the research shows that the relationship between Dawson Cole and Amanda Collier can be categorized as romantic love because it fulfils the elements of romantic love. The elements of romantic love in this study are intimacy, passion, and commitment between Dawson and Amanda. Keywords: Romantic Love, Sociology of Literature, The Best of Me. 1. INTRODUCTION Romance is an expressive and pleasant feeling of emotional attraction towards others related to love. In the context of romantic relationships, love usually implies a strong expression of romantic love or a deep and strong desire for an emotional or romantic relationship. Love is one of the most valuable things that anyone can get from God. When love has arisen, it will be deep and cannot be understood and understood because love arises by itself. The meaning of love is a feeling that can make us feel happy, sad, safe and comfortable. Love, of course, can make people feel joy and sorrow at the same time when we 1 try to get happy together. Feelings of love can make us realize how valuable we are and that someone is precious to protect us. Love does not just a word because love is far more valuable than the most expensive treasure in the world. The emergence of love for a woman and a relationship will appear. A relationship and a basis of love experienced by women and men will create a romantic relationship. Romantic relationships can be caused in a relationship that we walk. Romantic relationships that sometimes include children's characteristics to add food commonly called adolescents and can also be experienced by people who are already growing up. Romantic relationships can start from a friendship. It becomes a higher level by building a love relationship between one party and another because feelings of love arise from mutual attention and high interaction with others. (Collins 2003, Furman & Collins2008, Furman & Shaffer 2003). Romantic relationships, many writers write about it including Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Withney, My Love by Judith Mcnaught, A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux, The Prince Bright by Willian Goldman and The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. One of the novels that developing the issue of romantic love is The Best of Me novel. The author finds a previous study examined The Best of Me novel can be categorized into two parts: literature and translation. The first part there are seven categories reviewed The Best of Me novel in the literature (Etami, 2016) is (Andup, 2015) is (Mandey, 2019) is (Djakaya, 2016) is (Putri, 2014) is (Krisanta, 2016) is (Bestya, 2018) is. The second part of a previous study examined The Best of Me novel in translation (Iqbal, 2015) is. In this study, the author's lessons about how romantic love is in The Best of Me novels. The reason the writer studied romantic love in The Best of Me novel is to identify the characteristic of romantic love in The Best of Me novel, To describe how the romantic love depicted in The Best of Me novel, To reveal the underlying reasons why romantic love that specifically addressed by the author in The Best of Me novel. So, readers understand the characteristics of romantic love in The Best of Me novel. Readers understand how romantic love is described in The Best of Me novel and understand the reasons behind romantic love discussed explicitly by the author in The Best of Me novel. In this research, the writer uses the triangular theory of love by Robert J. Stenberg. Triangular of love is a theory of love. According to Stenberg (1999: 119), love has three components, 2 namely intimacy, passion, and commitment. According to Stenberg (1986: 124), romantic love is a combination of intimacy, passion, and commitment. 2. METHOD In this research, the writer used a qualitative descriptive method. Qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem with words based on building a complex, holistic picture, reporting detailed informants' views, and conducting in a natural setting. (Creswell, J.W: 2014). In this research, the writer used two data, namely the premier and secondary data. This research's premier data is The Best of Me novel, and secondary data from this research are related to material or references. This research's object is The Best of Me novel, written by Nicholas Sparks and published in 2011. The writer reads The Best of Me novel several times to get a more profound knowledge about the novel and determine the novel's character to collect data. All of them need to get the focus of the object of the novel. 3. FINDING AND DISCUSSION 3.1 FINDING 3.1.1 The Characteristics of Romantic Love There is some characteristic of romantic love, namely intimacy, passion, and commitment. Based on this novel's story, there are 2 characteristics of romantic love in The Best of Me (2011) novel, namely intimacy, passion, and commitment. 3.1.1.1 Intimacy According to Sternberg (1998: 1), passion is a relationship that involves feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bond. Intimate Relationships between Partners. The component of intimacy refers to feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bond in loving relationships. So, including feelings that can provide a sense of warmth and affection in having a romantic relationship. Intimacy in building relationships is evident between Dawson and Amanda in this story. The first kind of love that influenced Dawson for the first time he fell in love with Amanda was love that was infatuated. According to Sternberg (1986), infatuated love is defined as love at first sight. Love is crazy about most feelings 3 of sexual love that appear for the first time. In this Finding, the intimacy can be divided into two-part, namely feeling and action. 3.1.1.1.1 Feeling 3.1.1.1.1.1 Liking Amanda is always waiting for Dawson when he works at Tuck‟s place, and she still likes Dawson as she watches him doing his work. “She trailed her fingers along the bench where she used to sit for hours, watching as Dawson leaned over the open hood of the fastback, occasionally cranking the wrench, his fingernails black with grease. Even then, his face had held none of the soft, youthful naivete she saw in others their age, and when the ropy muscles of his forearm flexed as he reaced for another tool, she saw the limbs and form of the man he was already becoming.” (Sparks, 2011: 52). Amanda also likes Dawson‟s physical appearance. She describes Dawson is handsome as it is said in this statement: “He was tall and lean, with dark hair that fell over darker eyes, and she‟d known even then that he would become only more handsome as he grew older.” (Sparks, 2011: 53). Also, she describes Dawson‟s voice as well in the following sentence: “Like Tuck‟s, his voice was almost always soft, his demeanour calm.” (Sparks, 2011: 53). Dawson as well, he likes Amanda, as he describes in the following statement: 4 “Even from a distance, she was more beautiful than he remembered, and for what seemed an endless span of time, he couldn‟t say anything.” (Sparks, 2011: 66).