Narasi keseimbangan di Bali dalam novel Eat Pray Love karya Elizabeth Gilbert (The narrative of balance in Bali represented in the novel Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)

Eat Pray Love is a best-selling novel showing the strong character of its intrinsic element, i.e., setting of the place. This
element strongly affects the storyline. The island of Gods, Bali, is the place chosen to represent the word "love" as used in
the novel's title. “Love” found in Bali can be interpreted as the pursuit of balance which is clearly stated in the last 36
episodes of the novel. This study tries to identify the narrative of balance presented by the author. The textual analysis
method was combined with the classification of diction by Keraf and the principles of Tri Hita Karana to understand the
concept of balance in Bali, reflecting how humans maintain relationships with God, other human beings, and nature. This
study found that the narrative of balance in the novel Eat Pray Love was presented in three faces, namely (1) a balanced
relationship with God, (2) a balance of human relationships, and (3) a balanced relationship with nature. The three balances
were narrated predominantly in two ways. First, the utilized dictions were the general words, the specific words having
suggestive power, and the abstract words to describe the concepts emerging in the human mind. Second, the expository
narratives expressed through the explicit statements and the suggestive narratives conveyed implicitly were used to show the
pursuit of balance within Tri Hita Karana framework to live a harmonious life. This study implies that the balance in a
novel can be seen from diction and both expository and suggestive narratives. The readers can use the results in this study
as a means of reflection, which makes literary works contribute to assisting people to understand their philosophical life
values.