ANALYSIS OF MAXIM VIOLATION IN THE NOVEL ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES BY JENNIFER NIVEN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53682/4t1pxk93Keywords:
Cooperative Principles, Maxim Violation, Pragmatics, All Bright Places, Jennifer NivenAbstract
As a popular young adult novel, All the Bright Places frequently portrays characters who often violate Grice’s maxim violation when dealing with sensitive and emotional situations. Analyzing these maxim violations is important because it facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of the author’s intentional construction of dialogue to reveal pragmatic meanings, particularly maxim violations within the Cooperative Principle. This study aims to analyze violations of Grice’s Cooperative Principle in the novel All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, focusing on dialogues between Theodore Finch and Violet Markey. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method. The data are taken from dialogues between the two main characters in the novel All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and are collected through documentation and note-taking techniques. The data are analyzed using the Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña model, which includes data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification, based on Grice’s Cooperative Principle and interpreted using Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory.The findings show that these maxim violations are used as communication strategies to avoid discussing sensitive topics, maintain personal boundaries, and manage social interaction dynamics. Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory is applied to explain the reasons behind these violations, such as efforts to protect face and avoid emotional conflicts. These findings contribute to the development of pragmatic theory and enrich literary studies, especially on how maxim violations deepen characterization and enhance narrative complexity. This study is expected to benefit students, educators, and researchers in linguistics, pragmatics, and literature.
References
Aristyanti, Y. A., Sutopo, D., & Yuliasri, I. (2020). Realization of maxim flouting to create humour in Incredibles 2. English Education Journal, 10(3), 351–360. https://doi.org/10.15294/eej.v10i1.36727
Black, E. (2005). Pragmatic stylistics. Edinburgh University Press.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage (Vol. 4). Cambridge University Press.
Cantikawati, T., Tawami, T., & Purwanisari, R. (2024). Maxim violation in the novel It Starts With Us. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Business, Economics, Social Sciences, and Humanities (Vol. 7, pp. 759–769). https://doi.org/10.34010/icobest.v7i.587
Culpeper, J., & McIntyre, D. (2010). Activity types and characterisation in dramatic discourse. In Characters in fictional worlds: Understanding imaginary beings in literature, film, and other media (pp. 176–207). https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110232424.3.176
Cutting, J. (2005). Pragmatics and discourse: A resource book for students. Routledge.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Fadhly, F. Z. (2015). Flouts of the cooperative principle maxims in SBY’s presidential interviews. English Review: Journal of English Education, 1(1), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v1i1.68
Fitriani, A., Mujiyanto, J., & Sudan. (2020). The impact of Grice maxim infringement in Tintin’s Adventure towards communication purposes. English Education Journal, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.15294/eej.v10i1.35775
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Speech acts (pp. 41–58). Brill.
Hamani, T., & Puluhulawa, Y. (2019). Pragmatics analysis of maxim flouting done by the main characters in Kungfu Panda movie. British: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris, 8(1), 16–26. https://doi.org/10.31314/british.8.1.16-26.2019
Harared, N. (2015). Non-observance of the maxims in Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Journal of English Language and Culture, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.30813/jelc.v5i1.285
Hassani, N. (2019). The flouting maxim on Twitter influencer’s tweets. Journal of Pragmatics Research, 1(2), 139–155. https://doi.org/10.18326/jopr.v1i2.139-155
Huang, Y. (Ed.). (2017). The Oxford handbook of pragmatics. Oxford University Press.
Hidayanti, H., Lukman, L., & Azmi, M. U. (2018). A conversational analysis of Grice’s maxims theories on cooperative principles at undergraduate English students. Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.31764/leltj.v11i1.742
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd ed.). New Age International.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
Nangin, F. C., Andries, F., & Lolowang, I. (2025). Positive face-threatening acts analysis in Purple Hearts movie. JoTELL: Journal of Teaching English, Linguistics, and Literature, 4(3), 2064–2084. https://doi.org/10.36582/jotell.v4i3.11658
Paltridge, B. (2012). Discourse analysis: An introduction (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.
Pradika, B. G., & Rohmanti, K. A. P. (2018). An analysis of flouting maxims in Coco movie. Professional Journal of English Education, 1(5).
Rorintulus, O. A., Wuntu, C. N., Tatipang, D. P., Lolowang, I., & Maukar, M. M. (2022). Discrimination over women as depicted in Walker’s and Tohari’s work: A comparative study. ELITE: English and Literature Journal, 9(2), 148–166.
Setiawati, B., Rachel, A. J., Kamaluddin, A. D., Sholiyah, S., & Rochmah, A. N. (2024). The analysis of maxim violation in All the Bright Places movie. Frasa, 5(2), 85–92. https://doi.org/10.47701/frasa.v5i2.3981
Sugiyono. (2017). Metode penelitian kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan R&D. Alfabeta.
Suardana, I. P. E. (2022). The analysis of maxims found in the novel Never Go Back. Focus Journal Language Review, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.62795/fjlg.v1i2.24
Tumimomor, K., Tuna, J. R., & Kamagi, S. (2023). An analysis of maxim violation in The Legend of Dragoon game. JoTELL: Journal of Teaching English, Linguistics, and Literature, 2(5), 613–637. https://doi.org/10.36582/jotell.v2i5.6348
Thomas, J. A. (2014). Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. Routledge.
Yule, G. (2014). The study of language (5th ed.). Cambridge University Press.