CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the methodology in conducting the study. This chapter consists of three parts, namely object of the study, approach of the study,
and method of the study. The first part, object of the study, discusses a brief description of the novel. The second part, approach of the study, presents the
critical approaches used in this study. The third part, method of the study, presents about the research procedure which discusses the steps done by the writer in
conducting the study to answer two questions stated in the problem formulation.
A. Object of the Study
This study deals with the novel which is written by Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence. This novel was first published in 1920 and won the Pulitzer
Prize in 1921. The novel analyzed in this study was published in 1994 by Wordsworth Edition Limited. The book is divided into two parts. The first part of
the book consists of 112 pages within chapters 1-18 and the second part of the book consists of 117 pages in chapters 19-34.
The novel has three main characters, Newland Archer, May Welland and Ellen Olenska. Newland Archer is engaged to May Welland, but in the same time
he also falls in love with Ellen, May’s cousin. Here Newland Archer starts falling in love with Ellen because he finds a glimpse of freedom from his conventional
rules in that an unconventional woman. Ellen is described as an unconventional woman because she dares to break the rules of the Old New York society by
asking a divorce over her husband. It is said that the Old New York society does
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not tolerate a divorce. Instead, Ellen rebels against this society which still embraces patriarchal concept of womanhood.
B. Approach of the Study
In order
to analyze
the Age of Innocence, sociocultural-historical approach
is applied to answer the problem formulations. The point of socio-cultural and historical approach is giving an outlook of a literary work from its relation with
social history of certain time and place. The Age of Innocence as a literary work is also rich of historical situations and events which describe patriarchal society of
Old New York for the period of Victoria Era. Therefore, using this approach, the description of patriarchal society where Ellen lives during Victorian Era can be
figured out. After knowing the condition of the society, it can be seen as well the description of Ellen’s ways to rebel against patriarchal society seen from the
historical aspects in this novel.
C. Method of the Study
There are several steps taken to analyze this study. The first step done was choosing Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence as the object of the study. I read
the novel repeatedly to comprehend the story deeply. After that, I decided the topics to discuss, which are; how the major character and patriarchal society
described in the novel. After formulating the problems, I read again the novel many times,
watched the movie adapted from the novel, and found supporting sources. Furthermore, I read some books on literature theories, psychology and sociology
especially the theories related to patriarchal society. The next step was gathering supporting data from various sources like books or sites in internet. Then I
merged the proofs found in the novel and also in the secondary sources to strengthen the argument.
In the last step, I drew conclusions of the study based on result of my analysis. Moreover, I gave some suggestions on teaching and learning process
through the material of literary work as well as for other further researches.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
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