| dc.description.abstract | Mentally being pressed down and having something heavy that is
burdening a person’s desire to live are accentuated feelings that common people
often describe as depression (National Institute of Mental Health, 2014).
Depressed people coincidentally also have the quite same explanation of what
they feel, such as having zero energy throughout the day, always feeling down,
and simply always feeling sad (National Institute of Mental Health, 2014).
Having an understanding of what depression undoubtedly matters in
comprehending the story of the picture book that is researched here. Balloons for
Papa: A Story of Hope and Empathy (Bedia,2021) tells a story about a child
named Arthur who wants to cheer his father up (henceforth, called Papa). Papa
does not seem to act normally as any other parent would do because his wife
(henceforth, called Mama) has fallen ill, and because of that fact, Papa cannot
seem to hide his sadness away. The story of this picture book basically revolves
around Arthur trying his best to make Papa smile again. However, it is not as easy
as how it sounds. It takes Arthur a whole lot of his determination in order to do
what he needs to do in regaining Papa’s happiness again.
Children’s determination to chase something that they want often
arrives with some motivation that grows within them. The motivation that the
children have is often associated with their target, and at the same time, it is
frequently linked with pleasant perceptions of psychological need fulfillment
(Sebire, Jago, Fox, Edwards, and Thompson, 2013). These factors in
psychology may be the cause of increasing children's efforts to pursue
everything that they have an interest in.
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DIGITAL REPOSITORY UNIVERSITAS JEMBER
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In order to do the research on this picture book, theories need to be applied
as tools. They are consisted with the theory of representation by Hall which
focuses on the constructionist approach and the semiotic approach.
Representation connects with meaning and language to culture, it is a process to
produce and exchange meaning between the members of a culture (Hall, 1997).
The qualitative research method is utilized in this thesis because it allows the
researcher to gain a more in-depth understanding of the issue being researched,
to clarify how meanings are made through culture, and to offer a much more
practical method for this thesis.
The main determined goals of this thesis is to find out the representation of
depression and a child’s self-determination. However, come the following goals
that are also as important as the previous one, which are discovering the author’s
ideology and her critical position through her background, then after that,
investigating the correlation of all the pieces of information between the author
with the representation of depression and child’s self-determination that she wants
to portray in the book.
Based on the discussion in the fourth chapter, the analysis that has been
done to determine whether or not Papa suffers from depression has substantially
shown otherwise. As a result of the absence of information about how long Papa
has been feeling depressed, the depiction of Papa cannot be considered an accurate
portrayal of depression. Though, the result of the analysis in seeking the
representation of the child's determination on Arthur has unmistakably suggested
that he does, in fact, have a profound mental awareness. It has resulted in his
unwavering determination to restore Papa's smile which has been missing since
Mama got hospitalized.
In seeking the critical position of the author, the result is, Bedia supports
the theme of the discussion which is about depression’s awareness and a child’s
determination. Arthur's arduous struggle to reclaim Papa's smile in the midst of
adversity is based on Bedia's real-life experience, in which she too had to deal
with heartbreakingly sad emotions while dealing with various obstacles. | en_US |
