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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this research is a novel The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks, number one New York best seller author. The novel was published in 2009 by
Grand Central Publishing; New York. The Last Song is Sparks fourteenth published novel fifteenth published book. The Last Song was announced on July
11, 2009. In its short tour, The Last Song debuted at number one on weekly bestsellers charts.
In 2010, this novel was adapted into a box office movie using the same title as the title in the novel. The film version of The Last Song was released in the
U.S. on March 31, 2010. Nicholas Sparks also wrote the script of the film. He called his friend,
Jeff Van Wie to help him in writing the film‟s script. This movie is starring Miley Cyrus as Ronnie, Liam Hemsworth as Will Blakelee, Greg
Kinnear as Steve, Kelly Preston as Kim, and Bobby Coleman as Jonah. Before reading the entire story of this novel, readers must have thought it
just a novel about love between teenagers, Ronnie and Will. But after reading the whole story of the novel, The Last Song is not only about the relationship between
those two persons, but also about the relationship in the family. Ronnie and her little brother, Jonah must face the divorce of their parents. Kim and Steve decide
to separate from each other. Ronnie is angry with that divorce and her father. After the divorce, her father leaves their house and lives in the Wrightsville
Beach, North Carolina. Ronnie does not speak to her father for almost three years. Three months before her birthday, her mother tells her and her brother to spend
the summer holiday with their father in Wrightsville Beach, the small beach town in Georgia. She cannot refuse her mother because at that time, her age is still
seventeen years old. If her age is eighteen years old, she can refuse it because she may decide her life herself. During the summer holiday, Ronnie experiences many
events in her life. She meets Will Blakelee, a handsome boy. She knows that her father is sick. Her father has stomach cancer and does not have much time to live.
Because of her parental divorce, Ronnie stops playing piano. She and her father have the same hobby, playing piano. Her father is her first piano teacher. When
the holiday is over, Kim picks up her children but Ronnie chooses to stay with her father. She takes care of her father in the last moment of his life. At that time,
Ronnie reads all of letters that her father had send to her. Ronnie knows the truth why her parent divorced. They divorce because Kim cheats with another man.
Whereas Ronnie thinks that her father has an affair with someone else. Steve makes Ronnie believe that he has cheated with someone else. He did it because he
thinks that Ronnie and her brother will live with Kim. If the children knows that Kim who cheated, they will hate her. Ronnie also knows that her father is making
a song for her. Her father wants Ronnie playing piano again. At the end of her father‟s life, Ronnie finishes her father‟s last song and playing piano in front of
him. When Ronnie is playing her father‟s song, her father passes away.
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