Method of the Study

her eyes and looked at him. “I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t,” Tsukuru said. “I guess I’m basically not very outgoing Murakami, 2014: 21.” Tsukuru’s characteristic can be seen from the conversation between him and Sara. Tsukuru does not mind if he does not have any friend in Tokyo. He also admits that he is not very outgoing. He prefers to spend his time alone. Based on the conversation of the main character with another character, the writer can analyze the characteristic of the main character by using Murphy’s theory. In his book, Murphy states that the characteristic can be seen through his speech Muprhy, 1972: 164. From his words, Tsukuru admits that actually he is a person who is not very outgoing. He rarely express his feelings, so it does not matter if he does not have a friend at all. Back in high school, Tsukuru has four best friends. He meets them in high school. Two boys and two girls. The five of them are classmates at a public high school in the suburbs of Nagoya. He feels comfortable with his four friends. Even though Tsukuru is the only one who lives in Tokyo, but whenever there is a school vacation he will come back home immediately. Nagoya is his hometown. The only place where his family and friends live. So he does not mind if he does not have any single friend in Tokyo. Tsukuru learns that people in Tokyo are different from his hometown. He never meet anyone he feels like getting to know better. He also reads constantly, more than he ever had before. One day when he comes back to Nagoya for holiday. He starts to contact his friends to let them know that he is coming home. He calls his four friends, but he cannot get in touch with any of them. Eventually, one of them call him back. It is from Ao. Ao tells Tsukuru not to call them anymore. Tsukuru asks Ao to tell him the truth what just happen with the group. But Ao refuses to tell him and he says that Tsukuru had better ask himself. After that, he goes back to Nagoya as seldom as possible. When I did return, I tried not to leave my house and once I was done with whatever I had to do, I came back to Tokyo as quickly as I could. My mother and older sisters were worried and asked me if something had happened, but I never said anything. There was no way I could tell them Murakami, 2014: 31. The quotation above shows that Tsukuru also does not have a close relation with his family. It can be seen from the way he thinks that there is no way that he can tell his problem to his family. It means Tsukuru keep all his problems just for himself. Tsukuru is the only son in his family. He has two older sisters. According to the story, he does not really close with his father. Tsukuru’s father runs a real estate business in Nagoya. His father is busy all the time so he is rarely at home and does not have much time to spend the time with Tsukuru. Truth be told, he didn’t remember his father all that well, nor did he have particularly warm memories of him. He could not recall ever going anywhere with his father, from the time he was small until he was grown up, or even having a friendly talk, just the two of them. His father was basically an uncommunicative person and besides, work kept him so busy that he was rarely around Murakami, 2014: 289. It shows that Tsukuru, as the only son in the family, is not really close to his father. So when his father died, Tsukuru cannot remember a good memory that they may have shared together. But on the other hand, he is also not very close to his mother. It can be seen when his mother visits him in Tokyo. As a mother, she senses that Tsukuru may has a problem that he cannot share to anyone. When Tsukuru is not going home for New Year’s holiday, his mother visits him immediately to Tokyo. She found that Tsukuru had started to act and speak a little oddly. When she saw how much her son had changed in the space of a few months, she was speechless. But Tsukuru attributed it to ‘normal changes you go through when you’re my age.’ What he really needed, he told her, were clothes that actually fit him now, and his mother totally accepted his explanation. She’d grown up with a sister and, after her own marriage, was more familiar with how to raise her daughters. She had no idea how to raise a boy Murakami, 2014: 41. The quotation above shows that even with his mother, Tsukuru still cannot tell about his problem. Although physically, he may has changed, he acts normally as if nothing happens. In addition, another proof that shows Tsukuru does not have a close relation with his family is when his father died, Tsukuru comes back to Nagoya for his father’s funeral. But soon after that, “Tsukuru continued his work in Tokyo building railroad stations, without much contact with his family. His visits to Nagoya remained few a nd far between” Murakami, 2014: 48. From those quotations above, it helps the writer to analyze Tsukur u’s personality as a reserved man. Also from the way he thought when he thinks that he cannot share his problems to his family, even when his mother comes to Tokyo and asks him whether there is something she should know, Tsukuru remains silent and acts normally. As Murphy states that someone’s characteristic can be seen from the way heshe thinks. Tsukuru’s thoughts and from the conversatation he has with his mother, it proves that he tends to have a difficulty to communicate with other people. Especially for expressing his feelings. So after his friends leave, Tsukuru has not talked to any of them. He does not know why his four friends suddenly kick him out of the group. Back to Tokyo, he continues his flat daily routine. This is another proof that shows Tsukuru also has a flat activity in Tokyo: