PORTRAYAL OF GRIEVING IN ALI BENJAMIN'S THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH (2015)

• Main Author: Muhamad Luthfi Jayalaksana, - (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: 2019-08-21.
• Subjects: Thesis; NonPeerReviewed
• Online Access: Link Metadata
• Notes: http://repository.upi.edu/39543/8/S_ING_1501459_Title.pdf; http://repository.upi.edu/39543/2/S_ING_1501459_Chapter1.pdf; http://repository.upi.edu/39543/3/S_ING_1501459_Chapter2.pdf; http://repository.upi.edu/39543/4/S_ING_1501459_Chapter3.pdf; http://repository.upi.edu/39543/5/S_ING_1501459_Chapter4.pdf; http://repository.upi.edu/39543/6/S_ING_1501459_Chapter5.pdf; http://repository.upi.edu/39543/7/S_ING_1501459_Appendix.pdf
• Keywords: L Education (General); P Philology. Linguistics; PE English

Notions about death and grieving have been a part of human life for as long as humans have lived. They can be found in many artistic, literary and musical compositions including children's literature. The Thing About Jellyfish (2015), a children novel written by Ali Benjamin, tells about a grieving child that is in the transitional phase of being a child to a teenager. Thus, this research attempts to discover the portrayal of grieving experienced by the child main character in the novel. As a study of text, this research uses qualitative method and it employs Kübler-Ross and Kessler theory of five stages of grief (2014) for analysis and Schroth's theoretical framework in analyzing portrayal of death, dying and grieving in children literature (2017) to support the discussion. The findings reveal that grieving is portrayed as a difficult and painful process for the child main character which ends with acceptance and the importance of moving on from grief. The grieving process is constructed in the novel through the five stages of grief, even though the author of the novel may not have the intention to construct it by employing the theory.