Problematizing Situational Irony: A Critical Study on Hardy’s An Imaginative Woman
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17977/um064v1i112021p1607-1626Keywords:
narrative, situational irony, focalization, intrusive narratorAbstract
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to comprehend how situational irony in Thomas Hardy’s short fiction entitled An Imaginative Woman conceptualized a tension of irony in readers’ perceptiveness. To this aim, this study tries to examine the relation among aspects: the story plot, characterizations, focalizations, and narrator’s comments. The narration of this short story shows there are two representation levels of irony: (1) the story level which contains: the sequence of Ella’s ironic events and portrayal of victimized characters; (2) the narrative level consists of: numerous focalizations that are entangled with formulation of perspective and narrator’s intrusive comments that becomes the embodiment of narrator’s unreliability. This paper suggests that situational irony signifies the dynamic strategy of narrative in order to manifest the tension of irony within the story and its representation. Additionally, this strategy emphasizes readers’ compatibility with the irony of the narrative.
Keywords: narrative; situational irony; focalization; intrusive narrator
Abstrak: Makalah ini bertujuan untuk memahami bagaimana ironi situasional dalam cerita pendek An Imaginative Woman karya Thomas Hardy mengkonseptualisasikan ketegangan ironi dalam persepsi pembaca. Untuk itu, penelitian ini mencoba mengkaji secara kritis hubungan antar aspek berikut: alur cerita, penokohan, fokalisasi, dan komentar narator. Narasi cerpen ini menunjukkan terdapat dua tingkat dalam representasi ironi: (1) tingkat cerita, yakni memuat: urutan peristiwa ironis yang terjadi terhadap Ella dan penggambaran karakter yang dijadikan korban; (2) tingkat naratif, terdiri dari: beberapa macam fokalisasi yang berhubungan dengan perumusan perspektif dan komentar narator yang mengganggu sebagai perwujudan ketidakpercayaan pada narator. Makalah ini menunjukkan bahwa ironi situasional menandakan kedinamisan strategi dalam narasi dalam mewujudkan ketegangan ironi baik di dalam cerita maupun cara merepresentasikan cerita. Selain itu, strategi ini menekankan kompatibilitas pembaca yang berperan penting untuk menjangkau ironi narasi.
Kata kunci: naratif; ironi situasional; fokalisasi; intrusi narrator
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