ABSTRACT
This final project is a literary analysis of Sidney Sheldon’s The Stars Shine Down. The title of this study is Lara Cameron’s motivation in achieving power and wealth. This novel tells us about a woman who had been motivated to change her life after having a displeasing past experience. She struggled to keep on expanding her business empire from being devastated.
I chose this topic since motivation takes important roles in defining someone’s ultimate goal. Moreover, I found this novel dedicated to women who want to develop their business and career.
This final project has three problems to be explored; those are: (1) what factors motivate Lara Cameron in achieving power and wealth? (2) What types of motivations does Lara have in achieving power and wealth? (3) What motivation theory does apply in this study?
The method of investigation which is used by the writer is qualitative method. I took the data from the text of the novel and compiled some references from several books which are related to the subject matter and seeked information on the internet to support this study. The data are in the form of words, phrases, sentences, and quotations which are related to the topic. The analysis of this study used Heckhausen’s theory of achievement motivation as the approach.
It was found out that there are two factors that influence Lara’s motivation; they are internal and external factors. Internal factors contain Lara’s past experience, James Cameron’s inappropriate treatments and Lara’s personal ambition, while the external factors contain treatments to eliminate gender discrimination, to be a charitable person, and to be a famous figure. Thus, Lara’s motivation is relevant with social motivation, affiliative motivation, achievement motivation and effectance motivation. Heckhauser’s theory of achievement motivation could be applied in Lara’s motivation since she did a series of effort to reach her goal that was power and wealth.
