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Introduction to Literature

Literature

Literature is the expression of thoughts and ideas in a language. It can reflect and express human’s mind, feeling, and activities in their own life. It is a term used to describe written or spoken material.  The term is commonly used to refer to work of creative imagination. Literature represents a language or a people: culture and tradition (Mutmainnah, 2014: 1). There are some kinds of literary works likes poems, short stories, novels or novelette, plays or dramas, and movies. This all literary works will give us enjoyment and bring us into a large, close, and fresh relation to life (Welleck, 1977 citied on Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 1). Based on those theories, literature is the ideas from the human being which is expressing their feeling and their activities in their real life in the form of written and spoken material.

The process of studying literature is the most beneficial than another thing. This statement is supported by statements from some people. They state that they read literature for pleasure and enjoyment. But, there are some statements which state that if we study literature more for that purpose, we will lose the life experience that we might never endure in the real life. So, in literature we can come into a new world of experience that we never endure, it endure, it opens up our mind into border and deeper image of human being life with all possibilities that we can never imagine (Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 3). So, the conclusion is that the important thing from studying literature is not only for pleasure and enjoyment but also for open our mind about the broader and deeper thinking from the human life with all possibilities that we never think before.

Literature is bringing us to contact with the deepest reaction of the human mind elevates our minds; it helps to refine and enrich our feeling. Literature makes the reader more forbearing and forgiving by widening the outlook and liberalizing the spirit. The results of studying literature are the improvement of sensibility and a certain depth of perception. It best gift are about freedom of the spirit and enlargement of the mind (Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 5). The conclusion is that studying literature will give us some points of view with deep perception about some literary works likes poems, short stories, novels or novelette, plays or dramas, and movies. It has to do with the form and contents (value and message) of literary works.

Every story from kinds of literary works must have the value. Value is something interest, something which search by everyone, something nice, or something necessity. Value is identical with a positive thing (Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 15). While Jinas (citied on Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 15) value is “the addressee of a yes”, it means that something that always shown by word “yes”. So, value always comes in our life with the best manner. Value is the main key on the literary works.

Literature itself has a value. Begin from art values until values from massage. Values in literature are the same as values in life. Literature is not just about life, it is life itself (Chase, 1965, p. 1 citied on Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 16). The common values that can be found in the literary work are four values. They are (1) religious, (2) philosophical, (3) ethical, and (4) aesthetic values.

Religious values are ethical principles founded in religious traditions, texts, and belief (Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 16). Religious value has the strongest basic of truth than other values because it has to do with the truth of Almighty. This value can arouse confidence, belief, and faith. We must consider that Allah is the greatest creator and the greatest manager for everything. People just weak creature and cannot do anything without Allah permission (Mulyana, 2004, p.33 citied on Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 16). So, this value is the best values in literature.

Philosophical values are value which is related to the life and love deep thinking. It is supported by statements from Mutmainnah (2014, p. 25) philosopical values that cover two aspects of human beings are life and love. They are attempts of human beings to think most speculatively and systematically about the universe and the human relationship to that universe. Sherman (2005, p. 2) citied on Mutmainnah (2014, p. 25) states that the philosopical values are connected with the human attitude in facing the problems in the life. Philosopical values attempt to comprehend what people are and how their existence is. To deal with that, they need to understand the essences of love and life. The main point of studying philosopical values are how to find out the essence of love and life for good living in this world.

Before we talk deeper about Ethical Values, we will learn about what ethic is. Ethics is moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity, and the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles (Oxford). It is as the basic course of deciding our actions Without it, our actions would be random and aimless. The kinds of ethical values are ethics to God, ethics to people, ethics to nature, and ethics to ourselves (Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 42). The main point of ethical theory is to give a reasoned account of how people ought to be or act, individually or communically. Here, ethics is concerned with the justification of moral belief but not concerned with describing the sorts of moral views people in act (Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 43). So, ethics is the value which is related to the good behavior to everything. The way of someone act is called ethic.

The last we talk about Aesthetics values or sometimes it is called esthetic. It is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty (Mutmainnah, 2014, p. 50). It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensory-emotional values, sometimes called judgements of sentiment and taste. Aesthetics define as “critical reflection on art, culture, and nature” (www.wikipedia.com). Some aesthetics values in the script are shown as simile adn metaphor form. It means that the author is showing how the beautiful they are in figure out the thing. The conclusion is that Aesthetic value is the value which is related to the beauty of thing which evaluates something from the appearence.
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