Literary Enchantment: Unraveling 'Laskar Pelangi' through Transitivity and Personification Clauses in Higher Education Literature Studies

Abstract

This research delves into the analysis of personification clauses within the Indonesian popular novel "Laskar Pelangi" by Andrea Hirata. Utilizing Halliday and Matthiesen’s (2014) transitivity framework, the study employs Spradley’s (2016) analytical phases: domain, taxonomy, componential analysis, and finding cultural value. The findings reveal seven experiential processes in the transitivity of personification clauses, including material process, relational attributive process, verbal process, mental process, mental behavioural process, verbal behavioural process, and relational identifying process. Material and mental processes dominate in simplex clauses, while in complex clauses, the dominant processes include mental process, mental behavioural process, attributive relational process, material process, verbal process, and verbal behavioural process. The dominant occurrences of the participants and processes reflect the use of “personified objects” in that the inanimate can do, talk, move, think and feel like the animate. Thus, this empirical investigation showcases the novelist's inventiveness and vivid imagination in describing the novel's events. This research demonstrates the critical role of imagination and creativity in novel writing. The more innovative and original the work, the more enjoyable it is for readers to read and appreciate. Pedagogically, the findings from the study are associated with cultural values and morality. The cultural values embedded in the Indonesian popular novel "Laskar Pelangi" can serve as a catalyst for teaching literature in higher education contexts.