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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is Piercing, a novel written by Ryu Murakami, a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. This novel was published by the Penguin
Group, Penguin Group USA Inc, New York, in January 2007, translated by Ralph F. McCarthy. The novel consists of 11 chapters with 185 pages. The genre
of this novel is psycho thriller. The writer thinks that this novel is interesting because it is related to
human values. Negative and positive attitudes will influence someone in seeing and facing the world and life. From this novel, the writer also thinks that abuse in
family not only happens in people’s imagination but in real life. That is why it cannot be ignored anymore.
Through this study, the writer wants to open people’s mind through the messages that the writer shares in this research, that actually every action taken
both consciously and unconsciously will influence our environment, relatives or friends. That is why the writer thinks that Piercing can be a good example to show
the reason why someone has psychological problem in herhis life. The first scene is opened with the appearance Kawashima Masayuki who
in 10 days always tried to find a way to stab his own daughter, Little Rie. Kawashima was a graphic designer, a husband and a father. He had a normal life
and he was an introvert person. However, one day at an art exhibition gallery in
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Ginza, for the first time he met a woman named Yoko. Kawashima fell in love with her. Shortly, a year and eight months after their first meeting in Ginza, they
decided to get married and finally have a baby named Little Rie. After short introductory about Kawashima’s family, the story began with
Kawashima taking bath with his baby. After they finished taking a bath, Yoko usually dries his baby, and when Yoko was drying Little Rie, Kawashima saw
Yoko murmuring something to Rie. After he saw his wife murmuring something to Rie, he felt something burning inside him and it made him anxious. Since then,
he became suspicious and wanted to stab his daughter. Every time his anxiety came, he became sweating, then continue by smelt something weird like a
pungent whiff of something organic burning, and so on. Every time Kawashima tried to stab his baby, there was a doubt in him. In
one side he realized that he was Rie’s father but on the other side he felt that he must stab her because he thought that the baby was a threat for him. Since that
night, he could not sleep, so he decided to go outside. He thought that he would rather enjoy the cold than staying at home. When he was enjoying night, he
suddenly stopped at a shop to buy some diapers and when he already in, he suddenly saw his other self standing before the shelves two or three paces ahead
of him. It pointed to the picture of a baby on the package and grinned at Kawashima. No longer after that, it told him that the only way to overcome his
fear and anxiety is by finding a way to stab someone else with an ice pick.
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