AN ANALYSIS OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES USED BY THEO FABER IN ALEX MICHAELIDES’ NOVEL THE SILENT PATIENT

Abstrak

This study investigates the use of politeness strategies employed by Theo Faber, the main character in Alex Michaelides’ novel The Silent Patient, based on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) Politeness Theory. The objectives of this study are to identify the types of politeness strategies used, determine the most dominant strategy, and examine the sociological factors influencing Theo’s choice of strategies, namely distance, power, and rank of imposition. This research applies a descriptive qualitative method, with 266 utterances taken from Theo Faber’s dialogues as the primary data. The findings reveal that all four politeness strategies are employed by Theo Faber. Negative politeness is the most dominant strategy with 95 occurrences, followed by positive politeness (78 occurrences), bald on record (72 occurrences), and off record (21 occurrences). The dominance of negative politeness reflects Theo’s tendency to minimize imposition, show deference, and maintain professional distance in various interactions. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the use of politeness strategies is strongly influenced by social distance, power relations, and the rank of imposition involved in each interaction. Overall, this study demonstrates that politeness strategies function not only to manage interpersonal relationships but also as strategic narrative devices that reflect Theo Faber’s complex characterization and hidden motivations within the novel.