CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Research Background

Detective genre is one genre in prose fiction which tells the investigation of

crime. It is closely related to mystery fiction but generally contains more of a

puzzle element that must be solved, generally by a single protagonist, either male

or female. Detective genre puts plot as the core effect and it affects the whole

story. Todorov stated in Poetics of Prose (1977) that „This novel contains not one

but two stories: the story of the crime and the story of the investigation.” In

detective genre, plot holds important roles because the specialty of this genre is on

how the author arranges each act in the story to make certain effect. Plot becomes

interesting thing in detective genre that two stories with their elements inside can

twist into one work by using plot as the device.

In 1748, Voltaire wrote the very first detective fiction entitled Zadig. While

in 1841, the very first detective fiction in England was considered to be The

Murders in The Rue Morgue written by Edgar Allan Poe with his detective

character, C. Auguste Dupin. Later the story developed and made this detective

story becomes one of the most popular and legendary story in society. With

industrial revolution in the late eighteenth century, this genre became more

popular because of the changing nature of Britain’s society. The society became

more complicated with social changes from traditional into modern life which

leads to many problems at that time.

Mostly, detective character is men, but in some stories the authors present

female detective. First female detective fiction was known written by British

writer James Redding Ware under pseudonym Andrew Forrester in 1864. He

introduced his female detective character Miss Gladden to the reader. The

character of Miss Gladden is surely paving the way for the other female detectives

of early twentieth century like Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Carolyn

Keene’s Nancy Drew.

Detective genre also appeared in children’s literature. Detective genre in

children’s literature provides the adventure, the joy to solve the mystery for

children. The 1920s and 1930s was the golden age of crime and detective fiction

for younger readers. It can be seen with so many child detective fictions that

appeared at that era. The characters like The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were

the acknowledged characters at that era.

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories was first written in 1930 by Mildred W.

Benson under pseudonym Carolyn Keene. She created the girl detective to make

adventure around her fictional hometown River Heights. Mildred W. Benson

wrote 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew books (volumes 1-7, 11-25 and 30). As time

changed, the outdated social content in the original books, need to be revised. So

in the beginning of 1959, the story from the series were revised and in many cases

substantially rewritten by many ghostwriters.

Nancy Drew debuted at the time when girls were ready for something

different, something that gave them higher ideals. Nancy was the embodiment of

independence, bravery, and intelligence and that was what many little girls craved

to be like and to follow. Carolyn’s style of writing the story is by creating thrilling

plot which impressed many readers. A simple case could be interesting and raise

curiosity for readers because the author could also arranged the elements of fiction

in a good way.

The researcher is interested in taking Nancy Drew stories as a subject to be

analyzed because this character is very unique. Usually detective character is men

but at this story, it is a woman. In addition, the researcher wants to know more

about the structure of detective genre from Nancy Drew Mystery Stories as a

children’s literature. This detective story is aimed for children or young readers so

that it will be different from any other detective story for adult. Crime and

detective literatures aimed for children and young reader allows different

possibilities in detection and plotting, especially in cases where the detective is a

child, or part of group of children. However, it shares common origin with the

genre as a whole. Nancy Drew still famous until now, it can be seen from many

fans with many websites that still discuss the detective’s adventure. Nancy Drew

also has a longest running series. The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories run from 1930

until 2003. Nancy Drew has inspired books, films, and also video games because

people still want to enjoy Nancy’s adventure. In analyzing structure of detective

genre in Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, the researcher will take Nancy Drew

Mystery Stories book 1959 revised edition entitled „The Secret of the Old Clock.

It is because this is the first revised edition of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

based on the original story from 1930.

B. Research Question

The researcher formulates problem as follows:

1. How is the structure of the 1959 revised edition of Nancy Drew

Mystery Stories entitled „The Secret of the Old Clock‟ by Carolyn

Keene?

2. How does the structure of the 1959 revised edition of Nancy Drew

Mystery Stories entitled “The Secret of the Old Clock” reflect a

children’s literature?

C. Research Objective

The aim of the thesis is:

1. To explain how Carolyn Keene arranged the structure of the 1959

revised edition Nancy Drew Mystery Stories entitled „The Secret of the

Old Clock.

2. To explain how the structure of the 1959 revised edition Nancy

Drew Mystery Stories entitled „The Secret of the Old Clock reflect a

children’s literature.

D. Research Significance

Hopefully this study will give the following benefits:

1. Understanding the knowledge of arranging the detective stories

2. Enriching the knowledge about detective genre and children literature

in UNS

E. Scope of Research

To avoid the veer of the research, this thesis only focuses on the

intrinsic element especially in structure of the novel. It is to know how to build a

story of detective genre in children’s literature and to know the characteristic of

children’s literature. The researcher chooses the elements of fiction which

contributes in the story. Those elements are; theme, character, plot, setting, title,

point of view, style and tone, irony, and symbolism. The researcher is analyzing

the unity of each element in the story, and also analyzing the characteristic of

children’s literature in the story.

F. Research Method

1. Type of Research.

This study applies structuralism theory. It takes text or works of art as

the object of study. The main data are taken from the main source which consists

of Nancy Drew stories. The whole body of the novel consists of words, phases,

clauses and sentences. All of the components will be observed to get the data. To

support the result, the supporting data are collected from works, journals and also

online media or internet that bear and support the information about Nancy Drew

stories by Carolyn Keene and detective genre.

2. Data and Source of Data

a. Main data

The main data are taken from 1959 revised edition Nancy Drew

Mystery Stories series; „The Secret of the Old Clock, by Carolyn Keene. Main

data consisted of sentences, phrases and words that are formed in statements,

dialogues, and narration in the story related to the structure of detective genre.

b. Supporting data

Supporting data is data that is taken in order to complete the main data

and support the information. The supporting data are taken from books, articles,

website from internet, etc.

3. Technique of Collecting Data

This research is a structuralism research. The researcher collect the

data by performing close reading the 1959 revised edition of Nancy Drew stories

entitled „The Secret of the Old Clock‟ by Carolyn Keene as the main data. After

that the suitable data is selected. The researcher reading the main data repeatedly

to find the information related to the structure of detective genre in Carolyn

Keene’s Nancy Drew stories. The researcher also collects the information and

references from text books, journal, article, and or online references. Every data

which is related and suitable with the subject of research is collected and studied.

4. Technique of Analyzing Data

These below are the step of analyzing data technique:

1. The researcher read the data comprehensively and made list of data

by classifying the data based on their relevance and significance to

the topic.

2. All the data were studied and analyzed by close reading and deep

understanding based on related and appropriate approach

3. As the result, the data were interpreted through description based

on the subject matter.

4. Last, the descriptions of analysis result were evaluated by drawing

conclusion and offering recommendation.

G. Approach and Theory

1. Approach

Usually, a literary work has two important aspects in the form: intrinsic

and extrinsic. Both aspects are completing each other in building the work; one

cannot leave the other to unify literary work. Intrinsic aspect discusses about the

body of the literary work, the elements that arranged the work from inside. This

intrinsic element is a structure that basically built the text or literary work. It

consists of theme, plot, character, setting, title, style and tone, irony, symbolism

and point of view. Meanwhile extrinsic aspect talks about the elements which

complete the work from outside. It can be the history that influence in the making

of the story, it can be the background of the author, place and time where the story

is set, etc.

2. Theory

This research will use structuralism theory by Robert Stanton (1965)

in analyzing the problem: Structure of Detective Genre in Nancy Drew stories.

Stanton stated that there are three main elements which build the structure of the

prose. Those are the theme of the story which is the main idea of the story; the

fact of the story which consists of plot, characters and background; literary device

that consists of a title, the point of view, style and tone, symbolism and irony.

Every elements are connected each other to build one unity. Each element which

contained in the system has its own meaning and it cannot be left out in order to

understand the whole system. The elements have its function and to complete

each other. In understanding the whole system, it is required to examine each

element one by one and find the connection among them which build the

structure.

Structuralism takes the structure inside the text as the main object to

be analyzed. It discusses the intrinsic aspects only and eliminates the extrinsic

aspects. Intrinsic aspects are basically the aspects that built the works and relates

to each other to reach the aesthetic unity in literary works. Selden also strengthens

this statement by stated “Structuralism attracted some literary critics because it

promised to introduce a certain rigour and objectivity into impressionistic realm

of literature.” (Selden, 1997, p. 84)

Structuralism then only emphasizes the work itself and the element

inside the work. It is obvious that structural approach only discusses and analyses

the work itself. So, it is the reason why structuralism is used because this thesis

will analyze how the author of detective genre arranges the elements that builds

whole story and the characteristic of children’s literature.

This thesis is about how the structure in the literary works specifically

in detective genre is and the relation toward other intrinsic aspects. Bertens stated,

“a literary text is a structure in which all the elements are interrelated and

interdependent.” (Bertens, 2001, p. 43) In arranging the story, one element cannot

stand alone and one structure cannot build the whole story. One text cannot be

called as literary text or work if it is only theme without other supporting elements

like characters, setting, plot, etc.

H. Thesis Organization

The thesis is arranged in four chapters as follows:

Chapter I is introduction which includes Research Background, Research

Questions, Research Objective, Research Significance, Scope of Research,

Research Method, Theory and Approach and Thesis Organization.

Chapter II is literature review which includes explanation about

structuralism and structural approach, detective genre, children literature, crime

and detective literature for children, biography of Carolyn Keene.

Chapter III is analysis, which are the analysis of structure of detective

genre in 1959 revised edition Nancy Drew stories „The Secret of the Old Clock‟,

and the analysis of the characteristic of Nancy Drew mysteries stories: „The Secret

of the Old Clock‟ as a children’s literature. The analysis will be the structure of

detective story in Nancy Drew stories and the relations between each element in

detective genre as shown in Nancy Drew stories, and the explanation of

characteristic of Nancy Drew stories as a children literature.

Chapter IV is conclusion and recommendation. In this chapter, the

researcher concludes the research and makes the recommendation to the reader.