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CHAPTER II AUTHOR AND SYNOPSIS OF THE STORY
2.1 Arthur Golden Biography and Works
Arthur Golden was born in 1957 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to a family journalist. His parents, Ben and Ruth, published the Chattanooga Times, and in
early 2000s his cousin, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, published the New York Times. Golden‘s parents divorced when he was eight years old. And he was
educated at Harvard collage, where he received a degree in art history, specializing in Japanese art. In 1980 he earned an M.A. in Japanese history
from Columbia University, where he also learned Mandarin Chinese. Following a summer at Beijing University, he worked in Tokyo, and, after
returning to the United States, earned in M.A. in English from Boston University. He resided in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife and two
children. Memoirs of a Geisha
, published in 1997, is Arthur Golden‘s debut novel. The best selling novel was a long time in the making; golden spent more
than ten years on the novel, throwing out the first two drafts before finding his ‗voice‘ in the first-person account that was a publishing success. The novel
sold more than four million copies in English and has been translated into thirty two languages around the world.
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2.2 Synopsis of Memoirs of Geisha
The story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, where a little girl around nine years old named Chiyo Sakamoto lives. Chiyo was a poor
fisherman‘s daughter from a little town called Yoroido on the Sea of Japan. Chiyo has an older sister Satsu, who was portrayed as being clumsy. Chiyo has unusual
blue-gray eyes, and after their mother died, Chiyo and Satsu were sold to okiya by Mr. Tanaka. They were sold in the different places.
They were separated for the first time in their lives and Chiyo was deeply unhappy.
Chiyos life in the Okiya soon settled into a routine and time passed in a blur of daily tasks. Her misery and
fear were no less than before, but she was worried that she will never see her family again.
Chiyo was felt unhappy in her Okiya and she dreamed of being reunited with Satsu. In Gion, Chiyo has a friend named Pumpkin, another
apprentice geisha at the Geisha house where she was sold. She became a maid to Hatsumomo, a cold, smart, and tyrant geisha who is instantly jealous of her.
One day, when Chiyo was cried on the street, she met a man named Ken Iwamura. They were involved in the conversation and gave his handkerchief to
Chiyo. By Mr. Ken Iwamura act of kindness, Chiyo decided to become a Geisha so that one day she can meet again with him. She saved the handkerchief into a
box and felt that she fallen in love with him. Mameha, the most famous and successful geisha in Gion, noticed that
Chiyo will be a best Geisha at the time so she took Chiyo under her wings as her ―little sister―, and as the result Chiyo‘s name changed into Nitta Sayuri. Sayuri
12 trained in the art of being a Geisha, learned how to walk, talk, dance, and serve in
order to help and to honor her distinguished male clients. Sayuri, through her work as a Geisha, reunited with Mr. Ken Iwamura,
whom she has secretly loved since she was a little girl; although she led to believe he had forgotten about her. Her prosperous life was cut short by the outbreak of
World War II, at that time she must endure a life of hard labor. After the war, Sayuri reunited again with Mameha, and one again they became geishas. Sayuri
finally revealed her love to Mr. Ken Iwamura, which she had been harbored for years. Unexpectedly, Mr. Iwamura Ken also fallen in love with Sayuri. Not long
after Mr. Ken Iwamura became Sayuri ‘s danna, they moved to New York City
and lived happily there.
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CHAPTER III REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Kategori