Novel Rafilus karya Budi Darma menarik untuk diteliti karena penceritaannya menunjukkan keunikan jika dibandingkan dengan novel sastra Indonesia pada umumnya. Adapun yang menjadi masalah bagi penulis atas novel tersebut adalah apa tema novel Rafilus dan bagaimana teknik penceritaannya. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui tema novel Rafilus serta menunjukkan teknik penyajian tema tersebut, seperti alur dan pengaluran serta tokoh dan penokohannya. Landasan teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan struktural. Pendekatan ini meneliti segala sesuatu yang terdapat dalam karya sastra dalam hubungannya dengan keseluruhan cerita. Berdasarkan penelitian yang dilakukan, diperoleh beberapa simpulan sebagai berikut. Tema novel Rafilus adalah tentang takdir yang dimanifestasikan, terutama, pada masalah anak. Penceritaannya menggunakan cara ragaan dengan teknik stream of conciousness. Karena itu, novel ini disebut novel arus kesadaran. Alur novel ini dibangun oleh peristiwa-peristiwa yang menunjukkan sebab akibat dan yang tidak bersebab akibat. Tokoh utama novel Rafilus mengalami konflik batin. Mereka menginginkan anak. Sementara itu, mereka impoten dan mandul. Apa yang dilakukan mereka adalah berusaha dalam rangka mewujudkan keinginannya meskipun mereka tahu bahwa masalah anak adalah kekuasaan Tuhan. Hubungan antar ketiga unsur novel ini--alur, tokoh, dan tema--memperlihatkan keterkaitan yang erat. Kehadiran unsur alur dan tokoh mendukung tema yang disajikan novel ini.

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Rafilus, which is written by Budi Darma, is an interested literary work to analyze. Among the Indonesian's novel, it show us an enormous unique and differences especially the technic of story telling. This research wants to Find out theme and the technic of the author in telling his story. Meanwhile, the goal of this research is to understand the theme and the technic that author applied in telling his novel, including the plot and the character. The theoretical frame which is applied in this research is structural approach. Those theory suppose that a literary work (novel) is a structure which is built by a several elements in wholeness. It is important to know the elements of works when analyze a novel.

There are several conclusions of this research. Firstly, the theme of Rafilus is about the human fate which is manifested and related, especially, to the ancestor or child problem. Meanwhile, the author use the stream of consiousness technic in telling his story. So, it is possible for the readers to categorizes this novel into a stream consiousness work. Plot of this novel, then, is arranged by several events which have connected and disconnected each other. The central or main character of the novel got an inner conflict in their life. They want a baby. Unfortunately, they never got any child because the husband unable to give his wife a baby. They had worked harder and harder in order to have a baby, even thought they realize that the human fate decided by God. The three elements of the novel--plot, characters, and theme--have a tightly connection each other. The theme of the novel is supported by the plot and character.