Carlo Ventresca’s existence in Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons

ABSTRACT

Living in this world, people may think why they were born in this world and what to do. People will choose various choices in their life and decide the most important choice according to their life. People may face a lot of problems which involved other people. This kind of condition may be called as human existence. Existence means people live in dynamic process, not stagnant. In existential itself, there are some facts and aspects which usually called as existential facts and existential aspects. Through this theory, the researcher analyzed the main character of this novel by psychological approach and used existential theory of Ludwig Binswanger.

The researcher formulates the research problems as follows: 1) how do the existential facts of Carlo Ventresca portray in Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons? 2) What is the type of Carlo Ventresca’s existence in Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons? 3) How does Carlo Ventresca perform his existence in Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons? 4) Why does Carlo Ventresca perform his existence? In addition, the objectives of this study are; 1) to describe the existential facts of Carlo Ventresca which portrayed in Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons? 2) To describe the type of Carlo Ventresca’s existence in Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons. 3) To explain how Carlo Ventresca performs his existence. 4) To describe why Carlo Ventresca performs his existence.

In collecting the data, the researcher formulates the steps of collecting the data as follows: (1) Reading the novel Angels & Demons repeatedly. (2) Marking several quotations in the novel that shows existence of Carlo Ventresca. (3) Classifying several quotations which have taken from the novel with existential aspects and facts.

While analyzing the data, the researcher also formulates the steps as follow: (1) Giving more explanation in each sentence of quotations which shows Carlo’s existential aspects and existential facts or condition. Existential aspects consist of free will, self, performance, and guilt. Existential facts or conditions consist of throwness, we-ness, falleness, anxiety, and death. (2) Analyzing the data based on the research problems. (3) Classifying and categorizing the analyzed data with Binswanger’s theory of existential.

The result of the analysis shows that the existential facts of Carlo Ventresca are throwness, we-ness, falleness, anxiety, and death. The type of Carlo Ventresca’s existence is authenticity. The effort or the ways of Carlo exists can be seen when he acts free will, good in performance and self, and feeling guilty towards what he had done. While the motive of keeping struggle the existence, the researcher found that Carlo wants to be a new leader of the Vatican church. Other motifs, Carlo thinks that the society need to know he is the man of God. The one who capables to save the church is only Carlo Ventresca.