AN ANALYSIS OF NARRATIVE STRUCTURALISM IN THE ROAD BY CORMAC McCARTHY’S: AJ GREIMAS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This study analyzes the narrative structure contained in the story The Road by Cormac McCarthy according to AJ. Greimas. The Road tells the story of the struggle of a father and son who are struggling to survive in the post-apocalyptic world, where the world is in a state of disrepair, and there are no living animals or plants. They both traveled south with the aim of getting a decent life there, because they thought that in the south there was a food supply and no cannibal life. The purpose of this study is first, to find out how the actantial scheme works in the story. Second, to find out how the functional scheme works in the story. This research was examined using the structuralism theory put forward by AJ. Greimas. The method used is descriptive qualitative to analyze the source of the data taken from quotations in the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The findings in this study are first, in the novel The Road there is a conflict consisting of one actan scheme and one functional scheme, the actan scheme in this story includes a complete actan scheme because all the actan roles are filled perfectly starting from Sender, Object, Subject, Helper, Opponent, and Receiver. Second, the functional scheme in this story has a stage of telling the subject in reaching the object which opens with an unhappy start, as well as the ending of this story which has a sad ending. Then, he character of the man as the subject of the story The Road illustrates how great the sacrifice of a father who is willing to do anything to protect his child and how hard the father tries to find a better life so that they both can survive in the midst of a world that has been destroyed.