24 her principles to steal master’s attention called as nei-shin. To be loyal on duty
means someone does his or her job from their heart. Even though Bushido was a code from the old generation but it remains
until now in Japanese religion, ethics, and moral. As basic moral principles in Japan, Bushido is taught since young and it starts from the family, school, and
society. Bushido appears as the moral education at school and also in someone’s life experiences. One by one of the seven principles of Bushido appear in the
actions and life experiences of Totto-chan. Those principles lead Totto-chan to fulfill her self-actualization to develop her personality as a young Japanese girl.
The way of those principles leading Totto-chan to actualize herself is by developing her inner characters and potentials, such as being aware to the
surroundings, being spontaneous, and having sympathy to the others.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
This thesis provides some theories to answer the problem formulations stated in the first chapter. The theories of critical approach, theory of human
needs, self-actualization, and theory of character and characterization also some reviews on Japanese culture, are significantly used in analyzing and answering the
problems formulation. The first problem formulation is how the seven principles of Bushido are
revealed in the novel. To reveal the seven principles of Bushido in the novel, I employ the socio-cultural-historical approach. I use this approach because the
seven principles of Bushido are closely related to the history, society, and the
25 culture of Japan. Here, some related literature on Bushido and the socio-cultural
condition of Japan are necessary. The second problem is the manifestation of Bushido to the main character,
Totto-chan. To support the answer, I use psychological approach by X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Besides that the theory of character by Abrams and theory of
characterization by Hugh Holman are employed to have better understanding about Totto-chan’s character. Furthermore, I would like to combine those theories
with the theory of human needs Abraham Maslow. Since the theory of human needs has five stages, I only use the last stage of human needs. It is the self-
actualization needs. There are eight ways that can lead to the self-actualization. In this study, however, I only concern for the first way because this novel tells about
direct experience in the main character childhood. In the characteristics of self- actualized person, there are fourteen characteristics and I focus only on three
characteristics which are acceptance of self, others, and nature, spontaneity, and sympathy for humankind.
