Object of the study Approaches

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

Chapter three is divided into three sections. First is object of the study. The second section focuses on the chosen approaches which are used in this analysis. The third section concerns the steps taken in completing the study.

3.1 Object of the study

The object of the study is a novel by Khaled Hosseini entitled The Kite Runner. It was originally written in English and first published in Great Britain 2003. The novel has been translated into many languages like Indonesian. This study used the original English version which was published in 2004. The novel has 324 pages in 25 chapters. The story of The Kite Runner tells the reader about fraternity of Amir and Hassan, two young Afghan children who have been grown up together. They are friends. However, there are some threatening fundamental things shadowing their strong relationship. The problem pops up when Amir knows that his father, Baba, never really cares much about what he has done. He thinks that Baba hates him because he causes his mother died when giving birth to him. Instead of admiring his own son, Baba prefers to take a heed on Hassan, a low Hazara servant but one full of loyalty, guts, struggle and strength. Amir feels threatened by Hassans existence. His inconvenience begins to be worse when in one evening Amir himself merely witnesses Hassan sodomized by Assef, the leader of a notorious children group in Kabul. Amir finds himself a complete figure of cowardice not able to stand for his best friend. He fully realizes that Hassan plunges into that situation for his best Pashtun friend alone. The kite which Amir has been longing for a long time is a key to his Babas heart. Hassan has helped Amir a lot. However, not long after that, when his fear of losing Baba grows rapidly, he accuses Hassan for stealing his new high-priced watch by planting it in Hassans room under his pillow. Hassan leaves the household because of the wrong allegation. Amir realizes later on that he has done a cruelty to Hassan. He finds himself not able to live peacefully until he becomes a mature one despite his strong effort to forget what he has done.

3.2 Approaches

In this study I will apply the psychological approach and the socio historical approach in the analysis to discuss the issues stated in the problem formulated. Rohrberger and Woods Jr. 12 in Reading and Writing about Literature state that the psychological approach tries to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns from the knowledge of psychology. As the main topic in this study is disloyalty that deals with emotion, motivation, personality and behavior are related to psychological aspects of human beings, the use of psychological approach is suitable in discussing the problem formulation. Concerning to the socio historical approach, Rohrberger and Woods Jr. 9- 10 also state that a critic whose major characteristic is the socio – historical approach insists that it is the only way to locate the work. It is an approach that has something to do with analyzing civilization, and it means that it concerns to the society including the condition of the society and historical background of the story. It encompasses the attitudes and actions of specific people that a work of literature takes as a subject matter. Therefore, it can help this thesis in finding the causes of disloyalty by the society and historical background themselves. The combination of the two approaches above are considered appropriate as this thesis attempts to find the relationship between the novel, the main figure’s character, and the society history reflects in the story.

3.3 Methodology