GEISHA’S LIFE IN JAPANESE CULTURE BEFORE WORLD WAR II
REFLECTED IN MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of The Study
Reading English novels is enjoyable. It is
advantageous as well. Rees (1973, 11-13) gives the opinion that people learn
literature to help them understand another country and its people, to appear
well educated, to pass an examination or simply to enjoy. According to Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, novel is an invented story in prose, long enough
to fill a complete book. By studying the novel, we can learn human experience
of the author. We cannot enjoy reading prose fiction or novel unless we
comprehend what the author wants in transferring the idea, so we should have
more imagination if we want to know the idea of the author. Literature allows
the readers to enjoy the vision and imagination of the writer.
By studying literature people are exposed to many
kinds of reasons and a background which causes many happenings. Studying
literature also makes readers aware of the problems of life.
According to Rees in his book English Literature
(1973: 3), literature is a writing which expresses and communicates thoughts,
feelings and attitudes toward life. Literature in widest sense is just about
anything written. Literature, whether it is in the form of a novel, short
story, poetry or play, always serves a real life values such 2 as ambition,
love, friendship, history, moral, knowledge, and cultures, imagination include
art and religion.
By reading a literacy we can also learn about other
culture from different countries in the world. Every country in the world has
culture and custom. As an archipelagic country, Indonesia also has a culture from
the various tribes and each of the tribe is different. Consequently we can
learn a lot of cultures from the different tribes. Moreover, another country
also has tribes, culture and their own custom, like Japan. As a monarchy,
Japanese society also has a custom that they cherish from their ancestors. The
cultures and customs in Indonesia and Japan are so different, so that we can
learn the culture and custom from both countries.
As a sociological issue, culture has a big
correlation with literature. Sociology it self means the systematic and
objective study of society and social behavior (Popenoe, 1983: 2). Because
literature is a writing which talks about a society, and how people interact
with each other. I analyze a literary work using sociological approach through
the relationship among the characters, to know how they interact, and respect
each other in the society although they come from different societies.
Sociology is relevant to other disciplines and
everyday life issue because it deals with the familiar world of people and
society and has a goal of understanding human society, human beings and their
lives. Sociology has a wide range of society and social behavior that include
culture, family, gender, ethnicity, politics, population, and also religion. 3
Now, there are various novels and films that reflect
cultures of societies and nations. One of them is Memoirs of a Geisha by
Arthur Golden. After reading the novel and watching the film Memoirs of
a Geisha I learn new cultures. They are Japanese culture and Geisha lifestyle.
Geisha only exist in Japan and Geisha are a part of Japanese culture. Geisha
also only exists in Japan. Here, I try to do research to find the problem
solution which disturbs my mind.
Moreover, literature is a part of my major and as a
student of the English Department of Semarang State University who studies it
to get bachelor degree; I attempt to conduct a research focusing on the
Geisha’s life in Japanese Culture as found in Arthur Golden’s novel and film Memoirs
of a Geisha by using sociological approach.
1.2
Reasons for Choosing the Topic
According to Bond (1984: 2), reading is the
recognition of printed written symbols which serve meanings built up through
the reader’s past experience. New meanings are throughout manipulation of
concept already in his possession. The organization of these meanings is
governed by purposes clearly defined by the reader. In short, the reading
process involves both the acquisition of meanings intended by the writer and
the reader’s own contributions in the form of interpretation and evaluation of
and reflection on those meanings.
In this study, there are some reasons why I choose Memoirs
of a Geisha as the topic of the study. Memoirs of a Geisha are interesting
story. The story is about the 4
Geisha’s lifestyle and how Geisha adapt with their
new life. It is challenging to discuss the life of geisha, especially from the
Japanese culture point of view.
1.3
Statements of the problem
In analyzing the
problem, I formulate the research questioned as follows:
1.
How is Geisha’s life revealed in
the story?
2.
How does the geisha’s life
influence the main characters’ behavior?
1.4
Objective of the study
By analyzing Memoirs of a Geisha, I want to achieve
some objectives of the study:
1.
to get clearly information about
geisha’s life revealed in the novel, and
2.
to describe the geisha’s life
that influences the main characters’ behavior.
1.5
Significance of the study
The significance
of the study is:
1.
the study would be able to help
the readers in understanding the story of Memoirs of a Geisha,
2.
to give the readers knowledge
about another culture especially Japan and the life of Geisha,
3.
to give readers information about
sociology in literature.
1.6
Outline of the Study
This final project is developed into five chapters.
Chapter I is introduction which discusses the general background of the study,
reasons for choosing the topic, statements of the problem, objectives of the
study, significance of the study, and outline of the study.
Chapter II presents review of related literature,
the discussion of analyzing novel, sociology in general, culture, Japan, and
also Japan before World War II
Chapter III is methodology, which discusses a short
biography of Arthur Golden, synopsis of the novel, object of the study, method
of collecting data, and method of analyzing the data.
Chapter IV discusses the result of the analysis of
Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a Geisha. The discussion includes the
influence of geisha’s life to the main character, and also geisha’s life in
Japan.
Finally, chapter V contains conclusion and
suggestion. 6
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