Object of the Study

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

The discussion in this chapter is about the methodology in conducting this study. This chapter consists of three parts. The first part discusses the object matter of the study and contains a brief description of what the work is generally about. The second part presents the approach employed in the study. The third part describes the method used and the steps taken in analyzing the work and answering two questions formulated in Problems Formulation in Chapter I.

A. Object of the Study

This study deals with the novel entitled Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, written by a Chinese-American woman, Lisa See. From her appearance, See does not look like an Asian-American woman. She has red hair and a freckled complexion. However, See has a deep connection and roots in Chinese culture. Her childhood was spent in the Chinatown section in Los Angeles, United States of America. Due to her Chinese familial background, See always uses the Chinese background in her writings though she is just one-eighth Chinese. In a note about her by the publisher of the novel, Lisa See is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love, Flower Net, The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the widely acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. She is named as the 2001 National Woman PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 25 of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women. In addition, this novel had been cinematized in 2011. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan consists of 340 pages. It was published in 2005 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London. It is a work of historical fiction whose story tells about Chinese women in the nineteenth century. The setting is Yongming County now Jiangyong County in Province of Hunan, People’s Republic of China. In addition, the author has followed the Chinese historical background in the nineteenth century when the main character, Lily, was born in 1823. The novel ends in the very early twentieth century when Lily enters her sitting quietly life course at the age of 80 in 1903. The novel is divided into four chapters which represent a certain period of time in the lives of the major characters, Lily and Snow Flower. The first chapter contains six sub-chapters which talk about the major characters’ early childhood including the process of footbinding and becoming laotong then sharing a fan for stories using nu shu. The second chapter is divided into four sub-chapters. These sub-chapters tell about the major characters’ training process of household tasks and skills. Their marriages have already been arranged and they are ready to move to their husbands’ households. It also tells about the truth behind Snow Flower’s life. The third chapter is the climax of the whole story. It is divided into six sub- chapters. These sub-chapters tell about their marriages and the pressure they faced to give birth to sons. Lily and Snow Flower share their joy and sorrow as well. Furthermore, the misunderstanding by misreading nu shu induced Lily to send a letter of vituperation to Snow Flower. This chapter ends with Snow Flower’s PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 26 death. The last chapter is not divided into any sub-chapters. It tells about Lily’s regret for what she has done to Snow Flower. When Lily was seven years old, she was paired with a laotong or ‘old same’ named Snow Flower. “A laotong relationship is as significant as a good marriage.” See, 2005, p. 56. Choosing the laotong requires consultation with a matchmaker so that a girl find an ‘old same’ who is like her in everyway. They are born exactly at the same time under the sign of the horse. Laotong is an exclusive lifetime relationship which includes emotional companionship and eternal loyalty. Together Lily and Snow Flower both endured the agony of footbinding, which according to the tradition in Yongming County they had to follow in order to make them more marriageable. By binding their feet, they were also brought to the perfection of being a woman—bearing a son. To communicate with each other, Snow Flower firstly sent a message to Lily to introduce herself. On that silk fan, Snow Flower wrote in nu shu, a secret language which Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, unknown to the men. Later, both of them used the fan to send messages, compose stories on handkerchiefs or weave into cloth. Nu shu was also used to recite the stories and poems from the prior dynasties. In nineteenth-century Chinese society which is still in the era of pre- modern China, women’s position was inferior to men’s position. The domination of men was seen in every aspect of life. They lived under the Qing Dynasty during which Confucian instruction still ruled well. A woman should obey her father, her husband, and later her son. It was not considered appropriate for women to learn PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 27 to read and write. They were allowed to work only in the house. They could engage in kitchen tasks, embroidery, chatting, chanting, and even only sitting in the women’s chamber—the only place that men could not enter. In this situation, Lily and Snow Flower lived. To be more marriageable their feet are bound. If they had perfect feet, they would marry with a man of high status. Lily had perfect feet—about three inches in length—so she married a man from the richest family in Tongkou. Meanwhile, Snow Flower did not. They had different fortunes. She married a butcher. Due to not having right to education, they used women’s secret writing to write letters, songs, prayers, popular stories, etc. By nu shu, Lily and Snow Flower could share their hopes, dreams, and also accomplishments. They also shared their sorrows and joys in their lives of being a wife and a mother.

B. Approach of the Study