of reality. So drawing from the world of ideas, philosophy becomes the bridge to create the reality.
Lastly, the moral-philosophical approach would be the best method to discuss the existentialism issues in The Timekeeper. According to A Handbook of
Critical Approaches to Literature Guerin, 1999: 25, the moral-philosophical approach is used to illustrate certain philosophical matters such as existentialism.
Using this approach, this research aims to examine the actions and involvements that the main characters did in the novel and relate them with Camus’ and Sartre’s
theories of existentialism to answer the problem formulations.
C. Method of the Study
The library research method was used to conduct this study. The writer used books and Internet references about Mitch Albom and his work as a primary
source of data to analyze and formulate the research questions. The main data used in the analysis is The Timekeeper novel written by Mitch Albom 2012.
In this study, there are several steps taken to answer the problem formulations. Primarily, the researcher was trying to better understand about the
significance of the novel. The writer was interested in analyzing this novel because this novel contains high reflexivity points of view on matters of human
existence in the world using only a simple story with a unique formatting like what we could find in a classic fairytale. In the analysis, the researcher aimed to
examine how Albom characterized the main characters and what struggles they confronted in their existence particularly related to their search for life’s meaning.
First, the writer examined the problems of the three main characters in the novel. The theory of characters, characteristics and characterization was important
in order to understand the basis for their actions when they were struggling with their own problems. Characterization was especially helpful for the researcher to
better understand the depth of the characters and characteristics. Second, the researcher developed an in-
depth analysis of the characters’ conflicts. In the story, the characters would face different conflicts. However, the focus of this analysis
would be on the inner conflicts. Third, the writer analyzed how their struggle in facing the conflicts would depict the absurd in life. The theories of Existentialism
by Camus and Sartre were important as the basis of this third step. Lastly, the writer used the theory from Sartre to show how the struggle against the absurd
showed the characters search for the reason to exist in the world. In conducting the study, there were many references and data used to
support the statements in the analysis. The primary source used was the novel from Mitch Albom entitled The Timekeeper 2012. Some other additional
references, which were the secondary references, were The Myth of Sisyphus 1955 by Albert Camus, Literary and Philosophical Essays 1955 and
Existentialism and Human Emotions 1987 by Jean Paul Sartre, Exploring Life through Literature 1964 by Robert C. Pooley, An Approach to English
Literature 1969 by E. Van de Laar, and Perrine’s Literature: Sound Structure
and Sense 2006 by Thomas R. Arp. Those secondary references were useful to provide supporting ideas in the analysis.
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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
