Romanticization or Reality: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover Through Corpus Stylistics Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21154/eltall.v6i1.10769Keywords:
corpus stylistics, realism literary, romanticization, reality, collocationsAbstract
Corpus stylistics, which involves the analysis of electronic archives of written material, facilitates the understanding of connections between words. This research aims to provide linguistic evidence regarding the genre of Colleen Hoover's popular fiction, It Ends with Us, specifically, to ascertain whether it is a pure romance novel or incorporates aspects of literary realism. A descriptive qualitative approach, grounded in Mahlberg's (2013) corpus stylistics theory, is employed. The primary data for analysis are the four most frequently occurring verbs identified using AntConc. The collocations associated with each verb are subsequently categorized into "attempts to romanticize" or "narrations of reality" to determine the prevailing stylistic strategy. The research demonstrates that the novel utilizes a greater proportion of "realistic" words compared to "romantic" words, thereby indicating its alignment with literary realism. The narrative modifications are intended to heighten the story's engagement, rather than to romanticize domestic abuse or toxic relationships.
References
Angria, H., & Siburian, R. B. (n.d.). BAD LEADERSHIP IN GEORGE ORWELL’S ANIMAL FARM.
Romina B. Siburian (Vol. 2). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella
Anthony, L. (2004). AntConc: A Learner and Classroom Friendly, Multi-Platform Corpus Analysis Toolkit. Proceedings of IWLeL 2004: An Interactive Workshop on Language e-Learning.
Aulina, Z. D., Amelia, E. R., Amanina Umar, I. A., Hasanah, D. U., & Rumandhani, A. E. (2023). A Deixis Analysis of Song Lyrics in Drivers License By Olivia Rodrigo. Modality Journal: International Journal of Linguistics and Literature, 3(2), 99. doi:10.30983/mj.v3i2.6478
Bahadur Khadka, T. (2024). POSSESSION AND LOSS: REVELATION FROM THE UNCONSCIOUS IN COLLEEN HOOVER’S IT ENDS WITH US AND IT STARTS WITH US. Nepal Open University Library.
Bashir, S., Saeed, S. A., & Hamza, A. (n.d.). Effects of Orwell’s Time Period and Cultural Situations in Animal Farm, 9(1). doi:10.35484/pssr.2025(9-I)33
Bratteng, S. R. (2023). ‘If you weren’t a thousand times stronger than me, I would never have let you get away with this.’-The Romanticization of Abusive Relationships in Popular Young Adult Fiction.
Dwiastuti, W., & Yamin, H. M. A. (2020). The Simplification Domestic Violence in Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us (2016). doi:10.2991/assehr.k.200729.015
Gondal, S. (2021). A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in Delhi. PAKISTAN LANGUAGES AND HUMANITIES REVIEW, 5(II). doi:10.47205/plhr.2021(5-ii)1.40
Iadid, M., Hassannudin, A., & Shahira Bazlan, A. (2024). Colleen Hoover’s it Ends with us: The Devastation of Abuse. doi:10.47772/IJRISS
KANISHKAA, S. (2023). SILENT SCREAMS: UNMASKING THE HARSH REALITIES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN IT ENDS WITH US. Retrieved from www.ijnrd.org
Mahlberg, M. (2013). Corpus stylistics and Dickens’s fiction. Corpus Stylistics and Dickens’s Fiction. doi:10.4324/9780203076088
Odlin, T., & Sinclair, J. (1994). Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. The Modern Language Journal, 78(3). doi:10.2307/330144
Oktaviano, R. C., Ramiro, J., & Fitriyah. (2024). The Intrinsic Elements Analysis on Developing the Character and Theme in Film “Joker”. Modality Journal: International Journal of Linguistics and Literature, 4(2), 161–175. doi:10.30983/mj.v4i2.8831
Salsabila, I. H. (2024). Domestic Violence Experienced by Lily Bloom in Coleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us. Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 12.
Seliger W. Herbert. (1989). Second Language Research Methods. Qualitative Report Elana Shohamy, 21(5).
Shamam Ismail Otaiwi, Aliaa Abed Mohsen, & Marwan Khaleel Yousif. (2025). Romanticizing Bad Guys: A Psychological Analysis of Ryle in Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us. Zanco Journal of Humanity Sciences, 29(Con.1), 607–614. doi:10.21271/zjhs.29.Con.1.42
Shumway. (2017). What Is Realism? Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies, 9(1–2), 183. doi:10.5250/storyworlds.9.1-2.0183
Simanjuntak, F. M. P. (2023). THE USE OF ANTCONC TO INVESTIGATE THE PATTERN OF CORPUS REPRESENTATION IN JOKO WIDODO’S PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH. Majalah Ilmiah METHODA, 13(2), 155–161. doi:10.46880/methoda.Vol13No2.pp155-161
The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics. (2017). The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics. doi:10.4324/9781315795331
Vernay, J. F. (2014). The truth about fiction as possible worlds. Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, 61(2). doi:10.1179/2051285614Z.00000000035
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 ELTALL: English Language Teaching, Applied Linguistic and Literature

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.