Nuclear Relations in Construing the Character of Percy Jackson

摘要

One of the systems within a language is system of ideation. It deals with how human experience is construed in discourse (Martin & Rose, 2007: p. 73). Included in the system are nuclear relations, materializing at the rank of clause and below clause. Through nuclear relations, experiential meaning in a fictional text can be realized. One aspect of experience is how a character is portrayed throughout the story. This research is qualitative research, aimed at studying how the characterization of Percy Jackson, the central figure in the novel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, is construed by nuclear relations within clauses and nominal groups. Data in this research cover clauses and nominal groups which construct the portrayal of Percy Jackson in the novel. The data were examined to identify how Percy Jackson is characterized through nuclear relations between elements. The result shows that the character of Percy Jackson is construed by means of 9 types of nuclear relation configuration at clause rank and 4 types of configuration at nominal group rank. This research puts a brief picture about how relations between elements in clauses and nominal groups play a role in how a character in a fictional text is depicted.